


Practically Impractical

by CannibalKats



Series: Practically Impractical [1]
Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Age Difference, Domestic Fluff, F/M, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2018-08-30 13:57:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 55
Words: 94,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8535847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CannibalKats/pseuds/CannibalKats
Summary: Amelia is a moderately popular host for a small Games Media network who joins the RFA as her host personality Callie, this is a collection of what started as loosely connected one shots that chronically her relationships with the RFA members, her romance with 707 and eventually the inclusion of Jumin. I will tag NSFW chapters but they will likely be few, this will mostly be domestic fluff peppered with angst.unfinished/abandoned





	1. Intro to Poly 1

She should have said something sooner.  In the chat, they’d certainly asked her plenty about herself, but Seven’s background check had only revealed her sock accounts.  Besides she didn’t plan on seeing any of them again. 

Returning the phone had been a whim.  Overseas, alone, no one to judge her she’d finally taken her friends advice and installed a chat app.  One of those _locals in your area,_ swipe left to accept things she’d been avoiding for years. She’d thought the _lost phone_ was just someone’s clever hook up line.  So she packed her pepper spray, sent a text to a local friend and took a cab to the address.  But all she found was an empty apartment and the RFA.

The RFA was an excellent distraction.  She was in Korea for work, contemplating taking a job that would move her here.  She’d said no at first.  She was content being mostly behind the scenes at the small gaming media company, helping the tech department get the stream out, compiling soundtracks and acquiring media licences.  It had been a fluke getting her little niche half hour show.   
  
She’d streamed games in her free time, mostly for friends and then someone had uploaded a 15 minute video of her playing Last of Us and singing along to the spice world soundtrack.  It had gone viral before she’d even known it was on youtube.  Suddenly 15 followers was 1500 and someone recognized her from crew appreciation and she got called into a meeting.  She got 30 minutes every Thursday evening with a guest dubbed Inappropriate Soundtrack Karaoke. 

She wasn’t convention appearance big, but she was frequently requested to host their coverage, so when they decided to send someone from their American studio to co-host Pro-Gamer tournaments with her Korean counterpart she was the first name to come up.

She’d declined at first.  Max was finally settled, finally had _people_ , she didn’t want to ruin that.  But she agreed she’d do one.  It wasn’t just her popularity as a host that had extended the invitation but her background.  She’d grown up there, an army brat, and then stayed after her parents had been posted back to America.  She’d met Max’s father, a fresh faced Private, while she pursued a media communications degree.

Then they’d been posted back to the States, but not near either of their families and that’s when things had turned sour.  No work for her aside from sparse freelancing, no common ground, no mutual friends, and worst than the social isolation was that she could’t even go anywhere.  She’d let her license expire because she’d taken the train mostly but where they were stationed didn’t even have a bus system.  It was three years since they’d split and she was doing better than ever, and if not for Max, she would have seriously considered the move.

The party was a good distraction, and the chats.  She could work from the apartment.  All her production tasks were easy enough to complete, and the apartment ended up conveniently close to the convention centre she could shoot intros with her Korean counterpart and make it back to the apartment in time to catch Zen’s morning selfie.

By the time she felt bad about lying to them Seven was at the apartment and things had gone horribly wrong.  She’d had to call the studio and invent an illness, Seven had helped with fake documents. She’d been having fun chatting with him, had started to think about telling him who she _really_ was, or at least encouraging him to look deeper.  It had been fun being young and unattached but with the RFA she could see herself taking the job, moving Max here and having a support system.

Seven had been so withdrawn in the apartment, with good reason, and she worried what would happen if she told him the truth, and then it all came to a head and there was no time.  She accepted the job via phone call in a hospital waiting room while Seven was in surgery.  Standing next to Jumin she made arrangements for Max and all the things she’d had in storage to meet her.  She supposed from the surprised faces now he must not have told anyone.

“You sing?” He asked in English, looking up from his phone, her wiki page open in the browser.

“Kind of,” she blushed.

Seven had insisted she stay at his place when he woke up.  And she did try, but it didn’t feel right to be there without him, so she’d taken up Zen on his offer to bunk there but she’d only lasted a few hours, Zen was nice enough, but something in his personality reminded her of her ex-husband in a way that had her constantly on edge.  So she planned to spend the next few days at the apartment, the one with the bomb, until Yoosung showed up with Rika.  He’d insisted she stay with him.  She’d tried to refuse but Vs funeral was coming up and she could see he had his hands full with Rika. 

“You don’t have to do that.”  Yoosung’s voice was quiet, barely audible over the hymn she was singing while she braided Rika’s hair.

“I don’t mind,” she smiled.

“After everything, you don’t have to be so nice to her.”

“I really don’t mind Yoosung.”

The way he draws in his breath, his chest puffed out, she knows he wants to say more.  She felt sorry for Rika.  Callie had seen what religion and mental illness could do first hand. Helping Yoosung while Seven monitored Saeran’s recovery was cathartic and Jumin had surprised her by asking her to sing at Vs service.

“Why are you so kind?” He says, under his breath and she twitches.

“I’m not.  Really.  I’ve just,” Callie sighs.  “When I was young I was very religious, Catholic like you, and I joined a youth group, it catered to my interests and my spirituality, except it was more sinster.”

“Like _mint eye?”_

“A cult, yeah.  I had a very close friend who was sick like Rika.  I’m not saying—”

“Callie.”

“Yoosung, what she did was wrong, but she needed help, V shouldn’t have taken her mental health on as his personal burden, and he certainly suffered the most for that choice, don’t get me wrong.  But this is over, and if she recovers she’s going to have that on her conscience for the rest of her life.”

“But after everything—”

“She’s still a person, who was very sick.”

He’d hugged her then, and she’d held him while he cried.  The moment passed, and her guilt levels rose.  At any point she could have told someone.  But then again, so could Jumin.  He’d invited her to coffee, Yoosung and Zen had seemed relieved to see her leave that day, and Jumin had started interrogating her.

“I tried to let you bring this up yourself, but who is Max.”

“Jumin, I’m not sure I’m comfortable talking about this.”

“Because you haven’t told Saeyoung?”

“Fuck, really?” She hung her head.  “So is this a friendly threat?”

“It depends who Max is.  I assume whoever they are is the same person you frequently excuse yourself to talk to?”

“Jumin,” even Seven hadn’t noticed, he’d been so distracted by Saeran that he hadn’t even questioned her.  “I just, there’s so much happening.  I don’t want to add another cross to his pile.”

Jumin sat across from her eyes narrowed over his drink.  “Perhaps this is a conversation better suited to a  glass of wine.”

“A shot of tequila would be preferable.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I could arrange something.”

“No we’re here now,” she sighed. Resigned. “Max is my daughter.  She’s 8 and no I don’t even speak to her father, not when I can help it.”

The always composed Jumin Han stared mouth agape for what she estimated was a full 17 seconds.  He inhaled sharply though his nose and set his coffee aside.  “And she will be moving here with you.”

“Yeah in a few more weeks, I hope.  The studio is arranging to have one of my production staff escort her but—” she sighed.  One more sentence and this would be officially considered confiding.  Everyone else’s problems had seemed so large in comparison but she was starting to feel the cracks.  “Jumin, are you, are you ok?  You don’t need to listen to my problems.  How are you with everything that’s happened?”

For a minute she thought he might open up, but he smiled.  Content apparently that the offer had been made.  “I’ll be fine, but what were you going to say?”

She takes a long drink of her coffee and by the time the bitter sediment at the bottom of the mug has settled at the back of her tongue she’s decided to tell him.  “Her father is notoriously hard to contact and I have to have his permission to move Max out of the country.  Max was born here like me, she and I have dual citizenship but he’s a Servicemen and I have no idea if he’s not answering my lawyer because she’s my lawyer or because he’s deployed somewhere.” She sighs relieved.  There’s nothing to be done but it was nice to have been able to tell someone that, to express her frustration.

But Jumin’s eyes narrow and he’s already firing off who knows how many emails from his phone.  “I’ll contact my lawyer, certainly I can help with this, at the very least.”

“No, I appreciate it but you don’t really need to get involved.  I mean, I really appreciate the offer but I don’t want—”

“You don’t want my help?” Jumin offers.

She laughs.  “No, I’d love your help but I don’t want the headache.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s one thing for the contract Lawyer at the studio to do me a favor and occasionally handle my ex-husband.  But if a foreign lawyer, with connections to your name, aggressively contacts him in relation to moving Max out of the country?  I mean I’m sure you can understand how it looks.”

“You mean there would be gossip.”

“Even if there isn’t gossip, he’ll be unbearable.  I really appreciate the thought behind it, and if he was a different, _reasonable_ , person I would take you up on it.  As frustrating as it is to wait and do it on his terms it’s just easier.”

“Will he be upset that you’re removing his access to your daughter?”

“Probably,” she shrugged. “But I doubt he’ll even bother to see Max before she leaves.  She might get a call or an email when she’s finally here.”

Jumin was quiet for a while.  “It must be hard to make travel arrangements then?”

“I think the plan is for my assistant to travel standby with Max as soon as he signs. I’d love to go and bring her back myself but even with the studio covering most of the costs, this hasn’t been cheap, and I just can’t justify it, and the studio is shelling out a lot to move me here.”

“Would you let me help with this then?”

“What?”

“I could, perhaps authorize my plane to take you to meet your daughter.  As long as I have no other business when her papers are ready, if that is something you’re ok with.”

It was Callie’s turn to stare slackjaw. She nearly dove across the table to hug a very stiff Jumin. “Yes, yes, thank you, I would love that, we would...Jesus Jumin, this is.  Man.  Yeah.  OK.”

In the cab she took to Seven’s afterward she got texts from Zen and Jaehee that linked back to a gossip blog, already featuring a photo of her hugging Jumin in the coffee shop.  She laughed at the attempts to figure out who the strange American woman hugging the C&R director was.  It was a good day, and with such good news she had decided to tell Seven about Max.

She practiced how she would tell him right up until the moment she opened the door and saw the Choi twins covered in blood.

“Shit,” Seven laughs as her face pales.  She can see bruises on his neck and soaked bandages on Saeren’s wrists.

She doesn’t speak, her first aid kit was still in the car from their _road trip_ and she knew she had put the tourniquet back.  Saeyoung is right behind her when she kneels in front of Saeran.  The smaller Choi does not speak or fight when she ties the tourniquet, trying to remember what her ex-husband had said about his field triage course.

“Do you need anything?”

She’s not sure if he’s speaking to her or his brother but she shakes her head, and removes the bandage, the cut is shallow, the wound in the wrong direction.  “I supposed going to a hospital is out of the question?” 

“Yeah,” Seven says.

She flushes the wound with alcohol and pats it dry.  “Hand me the steri-strips, no the whole package.”  She considers not using the tourniquet for the second arm, but she doesn’t want to let on, give anyone the idea that this was not worrisome or dangerous, or lend to any future attempts.  So she repeats the process, tourniquet, cleaning, steri-strips.  She covers the wounds with fresh bandages, and looks Saeren in the eyes, he looks away but she waits and gradually his eyes make their way back to hers.

“This isn’t ok,” she says softly.  “This is never the answer, no matter what you think the question is, ok?”  No response, just intense eyes staring back at her, and Saeyoung tugging at her elbows. “Even if you never feel like you can talk to him, talk to me.”

“So you can tell him, and laugh at me.”

“Oh honey,” she smiles and kisses him on the forehead.  “You have no idea the things I haven’t told your brother.”


	2. Intro to Poly 2

If he had to guess he’d have said it was his fault she hadn’t said anything.  Hell if anyone had asked he’d have told them that she’d probably told him, and thinking back to that time in Rika’s apartment he’d had plenty of opportunity to ask.  He’d just been so _distracted_.  Overwhelmed was a better word.

If he’d been paying attention he’d have noticed the way her voice changed for two calls a day.  Just a slight change, an octave higher, a singsong lilt, but he had spent too much energy telling himself that he wasn’t noticing these things to really investigate their purpose.

If he really thought about it he knew her internet presence was too small, too clean, full of carefully curated tweets and pictures of her in what he now knew was a wig.  Most of all she was guarded when she spoke about herself.  He of all people had noticed that quite easily.

And somewhere in the back of his mind he’d told himself he would look deeper, push farther.  Every time her wall slipped he made a mental note. 

“No no,” he heard her laughing on the phone with Yoosung through the CCTV. “Way back in LOLOL history...Oh god now I’m dating myself.” She laughs again and there it is, that twinge of jealousy.  “No Vanil- yes Vanilla...this is embarrassing Yoosung...Okay fine, I was kind of a big deal, for like a year and then,” there it is that change in her face, the way she stops herself from saying something.  He makes another note to look deeper when he has more time.  “Life got in the way...No, real lif— Yoosung when you’re older you’ll...” She laughs again and he can feel his heartbeat rise and fall with the pitch of it, he turns off the sound and goes back to his work.

He catches movement out of the corner of his eye on the CCTV, Vanderwood is distracted so he glances at the screen and, _something isn’t right_ , ok there’s a stranger in the apartment, a stranger _in a towel_ in the apartment.  A woman with short, white hair; he starts to think that maybe he’d figured her out.  Maybe she was gay and that was what she was hiding, that was why she drew the line at _does Jumin Han is gay_.  Then the woman turns and a familiar face looks up at the CCTV, a quick flash of embarrassment and then she holds her finger to her lips and winks at the CCTV.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Vanderwood asks behind him.  “You have work to do, we don’t pay you make your own Voyuer porn you pervert.”

Seven turns off the CCTV feed.

Something about the fickle way she interacts with Zen, the hot and cold.  Always warm to start, and then the change.  He makes a note of it.  He’ll look into it when he has more time, but the agency and now the chatroom is hacked again.  He watches her phone light up on the table in front of her and he can tell by the way she cringes that it’s Zen.

And she is so kind, so calm, every curveball thrown their way and she takes it all in stride.  She even suggests he do more background checks on her.  _Maybe she’s in cahoots with the hacker_ he starts to wonder, or maybe the agency is testing him.

Maybe it’s all test from the agency.  That’s what he’s leaning towards, this pretty girl with a secret past who falls flawlessly into the RFA winning even Jumin’s heart.  V had gotten him into the agency, V could be in on it too.  He had to focus on his work, but with her casually revealing secrets on the CCTV _maybe she’s the real job_. 

And then the special security system got hacked.  Even if she was a rival, or a test, why would she put herself at so much risk?  Still with little explanation she’s happy to do what he says.  He can see her eyes on the screen, frightened and yet her voice on the phone is so calm.  _What are you_? He wants to yell.  The words repeat inside his head until they become the soundtrack to everything he should be doing.

Even when Saeren is in the apartment she’s fearless.  He watches her walk barefoot across the shattered glass as Saeren threatens her.  He watches her stance lower and shift as she prepares to defend herself and then she sees him and yells his name and he can’t focus.

He can’t remember a thing said but he remembers the fear in her eyes as she bit down on his brother’s arm, the way her barefeet ground into the glass covered floor as she slammed her body backwards to loosen his grip on her, the way she felt behind him her breath steady and determined.

No matter how awful he is, she always speaks to him calmly and with kindness but her eyes betray her hurt, it’s not until he’s destroyed the robot cat, not until he looks up breathing heavy full of adrenaline that he sees her take that step back, sees the fear, that’s when his heart breaks.

But still he pushed her away, and she treated him with kindness.  Even in her demands she’s kind.  He swears she knows his mind better than he does.  She talks to him while he works, asking him questions and looking at him like she knows what he’s going to say. When he finally decides to open the drawer she’s practically waiting with a crowbar.

“What are you doing,” he laughs.  “We’re probably driving to our deaths and your colouring your hair?”

“Colouring _our_ hair,” she smiles at him in the mirror.

“Our?”

“It’s a wash out,” she smiles “But it can’t hurt to look a little different since we’re on the lam.”

“The lam?” he laughs.

“Shut up and come here so I can do your hair.”

He concedes, just to see her smile.  Of course she’s probably a little right, the agency could have local police looking for them, he would have to change the plate on his car before they leave and changing their appearance even a little wouldn’t hurt.

She doesn’t sleep, not for the whole drive, and after all that time she spent on their hair, she starts producing wigs out of her bag.  A wig for every county line they cross.  She laughs with him despite how terrified they both are and still she makes those quiet secret phone calls.

“You know,” she says, yawning, “I’m the oldest member of the RFA.”

He perks up, she’s starting to talk about herself.  “Nah,” he smiles at her.  “Jumin and V are almost 30.”

“I know Luciel,” she laughs. “I turned 30 in July.”

“No you didn’t,” he chuckles.  “You’re facebook says—” What had her facebook said?  No her age hadn’t been on her profile.  Her age hadn’t been anywhere he looked.  Just another thing he’d made a note to look deeper into but not found the time.”

“That’s weird right?” She’s nervous.  Her knees drawn up to her chest, barefeet flat on the seat, she doesn’t even look at him.  “Fuck, it’s weird right?  I’m like 9 years older than you.  You were 11 when I got married.”

Everything stops for a minute, he can hear the clunk of her head against the window and the sharp intake of breath.

“Married,” he says quietly.

“I’m not anymore.  He left me three years ago.”

Seven snorts.  “Is he stupid?”

She laughs.  “Was that a compliment?”

He shrugs and they drive in silence for a while.  “Is he Korean?  Is that why you’re fluent?”

“No, he’s American.  I was born in Camp Casey, my parents were American military, I’ve only been in the US for 10 years grew up off base.”

“Oh.”

He could have asked her more questions then but he already had so much to process with Mint Eye and Saeren, he had to file this away for later.

And then everything happens so fast, and god help him she keeps it together the whole time.  Even when he shoves Saeren and Vanderwood in the car, and he’s shot, she keeps it together.

“Hey, bitch in the fancy coat,” he can see her watching Vanderwood in the mirror.

Vanderwood says nothing, sneers back.

“You don’t have to talk to me but there’s a first aid kit in my duffel, I’ve got a tourniquet, do you know what that is?”

Vanderwood snorts.

Even trapped by Mint Eye, even with Rika, and then V being shot, she doesn’t falter.  She holds it together, and when he feels like the pain and the blood loss might bring him down he just has to look at her determined face and another surge of adrenaline keeps him going.

He expects her to break down when Jumin gets there with his army of security guards but she stays by him, breathing steady determined breaths, and the last thing he remembers is the pitch of her voice when they take him out of the Ambulance.

“What do you _mean_ I can’t go with him.”

But she’s there in his room when he wakes up, curled up behind is knees with her feet dangling off the tiny hospital bed.

“Hey,” he says softly carefully laying his hand on her head as she starts awake. “I thought you couldn’t come in with me?”

“That was in the ICU, but you’re out now.”

“And Jumin Han’s money doesn’t hurt?”

“And that,” she laughs.  Her make-up is smudged, her face pale.  She’s been crying but she’s also changed.  “Jaehee brought me something to wear.” She answers without his asking.

“Is that Zen’s face?”

“I don’t know, I think maybe?” she laughs.

His recovery is fast, and despite his insistence she stays with Yoosung rather than in his house.  He calls her every chance he gets, no more CCTV feeds but Saeren keeps him busy and it’s only a few days before he’s out.

She’s so calm when she finds them, covered in Saeren’s blood.  So calm when she asks about the hospital, knowing the answer would be no.  She ignores him behind her, with his shaking hands, and anxious breaths.  The way she takes control, he should have known.


	3. Intro to Poly 3

“Uh, Luciel.”

“Nope, I’m not going to look at the gate feed until she’s answered all my questions.”

“Seven you should really—”

“You can’t make me.”

In truth the smug look on Jumin’s face should have told him something.  707 the hacker would have connected her weekend away for work with Jumin’s sudden business trip.

“Dude,” Zen was laughing.  Maybe he should look.  But then he heard the gate click open and the door swing open and—

“Maxine Annette, we don’t slam doors.”

Everyone is quiet except for the little voice until finally Jumin speaks.  “Hello Maxine.”

“Hello Mr. Han.”

“It’s nice to see you again.”

“Didn’t you want to say something to Jumin Max?”

“Thank you for the plane, Mr. Han, and the stuffed kitty.”

The entire room stares as Jumin Han kneels in front of the little girl with Callie.  “Did you give her a name yet?”

“Mom said it should be something regal,” Seven can see Jumin’s face, he can read the expectations in that statement, but from the look on Callie’s face he’s not sure the little girl can meet them. “Her Royal Majesty Sparkleface Fluffbuttons the first.”

Jumin does a good job of hiding his disappointment.  And the tension in the room fades as everyone quietly chuckles at his expense.  Yoosung and Jaehee swoop down on the little one called Max and suddenly Callie is at his side.

“I’m really sorry,” she whispers.

“You have _a kid_ ,” he whispers back, but still there’s a smile on his face.

“I wanted to tell you.”

“When could you have?”

She shoves him a little.  “You’re supposed to be mad at me.”

“I almost got you killed, you have a kid.  I think we’re even.”


	4. Intro to Poly 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callie runs into her ex-husband

“Don’t get me wrong,” Seven starts cautiously once they’ve packed her gear in the car, “that was like, really cool.  But what was it, I mean what happened there.”

“Nothing,” she says coolly and buckles her seatbelt.  “It wasn’t anything.”

Seven tries to drop it, he really does, but he can’t help it.  “I mean, no it was nothing, but I mean, you definitely rap battled that guy.”

He catches her look reflected in the window and for a minute he wishes he was anyone else, someone who could keep their mouth shut, maybe Jumin, but then her mouth twitches and he can see her suppress a smile.

“It wasn’t a rap battle, I didn’t rap and I didn’t challenge him.”

“No you definitely challenged him, my girlfriend, palms sweaty, Yoosung’s spaghetti—”

“Luciel, I’m concerned that you don’t know what rap is,” she laughs.

He smiles, she’s relaxed laughing, job done.  It bothers him though, whoever that man had been he had known her and done _something_ to her.  Something she didn’t want to talk about, and he was the king of not talking about things.

“Okay, okay.  So you didn’t rap battle, but you sang at that guy.  I mean don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind filling my baby with your gear and playing roadie, and I really dig being your sound guy but if you’re gonna start assaulting strangers with acoustic alt rock can you give me some warning, do you know how many hits I could have gotten on a video like that?”

She smirks but it’s fake and Seven is quiet.  _Alright Saeyoung_ , he thinks, _let it go for now_.  He watches her in his peripheral. She takes her phone out and he sees the colours of the RFA app reflect off her glasses, she switches between a chat and FB for a while and he thinks maybe he sees a picture of the guy from the sidewalk.  By the time Seven pulls into his garage she’s stuffed the phone back in her pocket and is staring out the window. 

He can see her mouthing the words to the song that plays on the radio and a lump forms in his throat.  Normally she’d be pumped from rehearsal.  The last time they’d drove home she’d pulled out her Ukelele and played the strangest rendition of Enter Sandman he’d ever heard.  But here she was withdrawn, not even singing out loud to the ridiculous sad song playlist she’d started.

They sit in the car for a few minutes before the radio turns itself off.  She doesn’t make a move when Seven gets out of the car.  He stops for a minute, it wouldn’t be the first time she came out to the garage to clear her thoughts.  He moves on, he’ll give her some time, make them a snack and find something really terrible to watch before she has to pick Max up from school; but he doesn’t make is more than 3 feet before he hears her.

“Hey,” she says softly.  Her big orange eyes are watery on the other side of the window.

“Hey,” he smiles, 3 big steps and he’s kneeling on the other side of the door forehead pressed against the glass.  “I didn’t mean to pry you know?  You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”

“I know,” she says, still quiet.

“I don’t even care who that guy was, you know.  He looked like a douchebag.  I hate his face and his shoes were really stupid.”

“You know how I have a kid,” she starts.

“WHAT?!” He gasps. “She’s a Kid?  I thought she was just like Santa’s least helpful helper.  Kid?  Wow, I guess that makes sense.”

“Saeyoung,” she taps the glass. “That was her Dad.”

He’s quiet for a moment, it felt like the air had been sucked out of his lungs.  “I thought he was overseas.”

“Me too.”

“He didn’t tell you he was here?”

“It might be R&R, I don’t know, he doesn’t tell me anything.  He just pays support and I pretend he doesn’t exist until he likes a couple pictures on facebook or owes me money.”

He’d known the situation with her Ex was complicated.  He suspected there was more to it than she wanted to talk about, the kid didn’t ask for or about her Dad and in the month Callie and her girl had lived with him they’d barely mentioned him.  Until today he’d been such a non issue that Seven hadn’t even been concerned enough to look him up.

Which was exactly what Seven was going to do now.  He pressed his lips against the window in an exaggerated kiss that made her laugh and stood up.  He heard the door open and Callie still laughing.

“Hey,” she called.

He waved her off.

“Luciel, what are you doing we have to unload.”

“Important defender of justice business!”

“No, Seven, you’re not hacking my ex-husband.”

And there it was.

“Saeyoung,” her hands wrapped around his middle and he felt her cheek against his back.

“Oh no!” he gasps.  “An unknown assailant!  How will I escape.”

“Saeyoung,” she says, firmer this time but he can feel her cheek tense with a smile.  “You can’t hack my ex-husband ok?”

“No one will know,” he reasons.

“Seven he’s in the military.”

“I’m a pretty ok at hacking.”

“No, it’s not.  It’s not that I think you’ll get caught or, that I don’t want you to hack him.”

“WAIT!” Seven spins in place and bends over until they’re nose to nose.  “Did my Queen just ask me to hack someone?  Did an Angel just says that I Seven Zero Seven, Defender of Justice, am the single best hacker, capable of infiltrating Militaries?”

“That’s not, Seven, this isn’t a silly challenge, this is my life, our life.”

 _Shit_.

“Saeyoung, don’t look up his schedule, or what he’s doing.  I don’t want to know.  I mean, I do but—”

“Wouldn’t it be easier?  No one will know if I just find out how long he’s here.”

“You don’t understand.  I’d know.  And on the off chance he does ask to see her I’d have to worry about if I let on that I know his schedule... Saeyoung, if I ask too many questions about where he is he thinks I’m obsessed with him.  He thought when I didn’t date I was obsessed him.  When he’s lonely and bored he wants me to _hang out_.  It’s hard enough not to think about him every day when I don’t know if he has time he could be spending with his kid.”

“Oh.”

“Fuck, no.  Not like that.”

“No, it’s ok.  I mean you were married.  It’s, you know.  It’s fine.”

“God no, Saeyoung, not like that.  Shit.  No.  I mean I fucking hate him ok?  And I have this awesome fucking kid and I hate that he doesn’t want to hang out with her.  He hangs up on her if her mind wonders on the phone, or she’s out of view on skype for more than a few seconds. And when she’s telling me about things that excite her it’s hard not to think about how hurt she must be that he doesn’t want to share that. 

And it’s hard not to think about him when you tell me I should replace my worn out patched up hoodie because for 10 years I couldn’t even buy myself clothing without worrying it would start a fight.  So sure, I’d love for you to fuck his shit up.  I’d love even more to ghost him.  Just forget he exists but I can’t and as nice it would be to anticipate his bullshit I’d rather not have to think about him that much.”

Seven is quiet, his expressive eyes are considerate and he kisses her on the nose.  They unload his car in comfortable silence and he does make her a snack.  Strange to have fridge full of real food; he contemplates whether to go healthy or convenient and settles on Honey Buddha chips with cheese and grapes.  She eats it sitting on the floor, her head resting against his knee while he plays video games.  She listens to the audio he took during the rehearsal and makes notes, which songs worked, where she was flat, sharp, where her time was off.  She fires off texts and picks up her daughter from school.

He decides to work at the kitchen table while the girls make dinner.  Max is smiling at him whenever he looks up.  He closes out his work without finishing and watches them.

“Hey,” he says.  “Can I help you?”

“I don’t know,” Max says sceptically. “Can you cook?”

Callie laughs. Seven shrugs.

“Why don’t you teach me.”

“There isn’t really much left. Mom just has to turn the oven on.”

“Oh.”

“Why does everyone call you Seven.”

“Do they?”

“Mr. Han calls you Luciel but your name is Saeyoung, because that’s what Mom calls you.”

“Your name is Maxine, why does everyone call you Max.”

“Max is a name, Seven is a number,” she makes a face at him.

“I didn’t say it was a very good nickname,” he laughs.

“Were you coding before?” She asks.

“I was.”

“Really?” And before he knows it she’s run off and returned with a bunch of little toys and a small computer he recognizes as some form of raspberry pi.  She chatters excitedly to him about the toys she’s coded.  She shows him how she built the case herself and what she’s made that’s worked and what she’s having trouble with.  Callie smiles at him from behind Max.

Supper is cooling on the stove when Callie finally makes them clear the table and he can’t stop smiling even if he is eating pretty much cold food.  It’s real food and there’s these awesome girls who care enough to make it for him.  And despite Saeren’s complaints about it being cold every time he looks up Callie is practically beaming at him.   
  
After supper he packs Max’s lunch and adds a riddle in binary while Callie coaxes the 8 year old into the bath tub.  He laughs listening to them argue about brushing her hair, and how long she can read before lights out.

He’d worried, at first, about having a kid in his life.  It’s been six months and it got easier every day. On days like today he wondered how he could be so lucky to not only find Callie, but a whole family that he fit so completely into.

“I get it,” he says when Callie falls into the couch next to him. 

“Get what?”

“What you said earlier.  Every minute I spend with Max I learn this new awesome thing about her, she’s smart and passionate and it must be frustrating to know how awesome she is and be faced with him.”

“You do a pretty good job of making up for it though.”

“Do I?”

“Oh god yes, coding is so far beyond me, she almost never tells me what she’s working on until she’s finished.  I’m excited she can share that with you.”

They fall into the usual quiet of the evening, with Callie testing out a game for her show and him coding something or other.  Saeren was coming out of his room more and more, and Max opened up a little more every day.

“Saeyoung,” Saeren asks sitting in the chair opposite them.  They both glance up.  As much progress as they’d made Saeren was still mostly quite when Seven was home.

“Yeah?” She could see the way he tried not to seem too eager, the way he didn’t quite look up from his laptop screen.

“Aren’t you afraid?”

Callie doesn’t realize she’s holding her breath until she lets it out. “Of what?”

Saeren doesn’t take his eyes off of his brother and he doesn’t clarify.

“Terrified,” he admits.  “But a little less everyday.”

“Of what?” she asks again.

“Being like her,” they say in unison.

“Oh god,” she says under her breath. “I never thought, I didn’t know.”

Seven shrugs and smiles.  Saeren watches him.

“You know,” Callie says finally, “she doesn’t define you.  Either of you.  Not who you are, and not your ability to be Max’s family.  Max’s Dad has good parents, kind people who care and try despite what a complete bag of soggy horse dicks he turned out to be, and he is a terrible father.  If anything I think you guys might be better with her than I am.  Maybe you check yourselves more than I ever think to but I’ve never worried about leaving her alone with either of you.  Leaving the two of you alone together maybe but not her with you.”

“That’s stupid,” Saeren snorts.

“Which part?” She asks. Genuinely curious.

“You don’t worry when you leave her with us?  You should at least worry a little bit.”

“I worry when I leave her with Zen, because he might fill her full of candy or take her on his motorcycle.  I worry when I leave her with Yoosung that she might convince him she can use the stove or _accidentally_ delete his LOLOL inventory or make him cry.  I worry that maybe she’ll irritate you when you need quiet or she might trip over a powercord and end up messing up a day of work for one of you.  But I don’t worry about her safety. Should I?”

Saeren shrugs, and Saeyoung squeezes her arm.

“You guys are our family now. We trust you.  So get used to it.”


	5. Intro to Poly 5

“You know, I’ve already told you to call me Saeyoung.” She’d thought he was asleep.  They’d been in bed for hours and finally stopped laughing 20minutes ago.

“I do call you Saeyoung.”

“Sometimes.”

“You know Callie isn’t my name but you still call me Callie.”

“That seems different,” he says into her neck.  “Other people call you Callie, thousands of people on the internet for example.  But the only person I know that calls you Amelia is Jumin. Besides, it’s the first name I knew you by.”

“It’s not so different,” she says taking his hand and kissing his knuckles.  “You were Seven to me first, and then Luciel.  Sometimes they just feel more situationaly appropriate than Saeyoung.  I don’t know, calling you Saeyoung seems so personal, and I’ve always kinda been one for nicknames.  Plus I kind of like how I can surprise you with your own name sometimes.”

He doesn’t respond and she worries she’s hurt his feelings.

“I’m Amelia Calliope Francis Miller, and to me you’re Seven Luciel Saeyoung Choi.  But if that makes you uncomfortable—”

“No,” he hugs her. “I mean, it did a little but when you explain it, I feel, I don’t know...Silly?”

“It’s not silly, I can just call you Saeyoung from now on if you’d like.”

“I kind of like when you surprise me with it, now that you mention it.”


	6. Intro to Poly 6

“30 isn’t even that old.”

Luciel thought about trying to signal to Zen to stop but even he didn’t expect this outcome.

“I’m not saying I’m old Hyun, I’m saying I have grey hair.”

“Real name, you’re in trouble,” Yoosung laughs

“You just shouldn’t torture your hair like that, you’re hair can’t be _that_ grey.   You’re not _that_ old.”

When she walks off he doesn’t follow.  Sometimes she needs a minute and he’s way too entertained by how exasperated Zen is right now.  Jumin is shaking his head but even he’s smirking.  It was Jaehee that dropped the glass when she came back out. 

“Callie, are you, are you okay?”

“Do you see this?” She points dramatically at the millimetre of hair left on the right side of her head. 

“Holy shit,” Zen stammers.  “That wasn’t really, I mean Callie that’s a little extreme.”

“But it’s fucking grey right?”  She exclaims.

Jumin has been moving closer to him during this display and leans over.  “She’s already planned to do this yes?”

He considers keeping up her charade for a minute but Callie has a soft spot for Jumin. “Yeah she had an appointment tomorrow; I guess she can cancel it.”

Jumin smiles. “I thought she’d mentioned something at lunch.”

Saeyoung stiffens slightly.  Jumin and Callie met for frequent lunches, and she’d been accompanying him to dinners and social engagements since C&R had backed her studio’s Korean station.  It was sensible of Jumin to have a platonic partner in those situations; after the first photos of them at lunch had surfaced on gossip sites and then when he’d gotten involved with her work, he had quietly asked both he and Callie if they would be ok maintaining the rouse.

“Is Max in with your brother?” Jumin asked.  Or should we be worried about waking her?”

“She’s with her Dad this week.”

“He did call then?”

“He asked for a week but he’s bringing her back tomorrow evening.”

“That’s early I take it.”

“He lasted three days.”

“As Amelia said he would.”

Callie had said no immediately but he wasn’t so quick to dismiss it.  When Jumin had left he’d asked her to think about it.  She’d been offended at first but he started bringing up things he knew she’d like.  She could go dancing with Jumin for one, and he’d certainly compensate her.  Plus think of the publicity.  In the end when he knew she was starting to think about it he’d simply said _it’s mostly just going out to dinner with Jumin, you do that already._

But things had been weird between the three of them when they were together like this.  Laughing at Zen’s expense was the most normal he’d felt and Callie was starting to notice.

“We have dinner tomorrow evening,” Jumin was talking, and he was trying to pay attention.  “Should I make excuses for her?”

“Excuses?”

“Normally leaving Max with you and your brother doesn’t bother her but I thought perhaps with Max coming home tomorrow she may want to be there.”

“Oh, uh, actually I think she was kind of counting on your dinner.  She asked me to pick Max up and she’s been giving me pop quizzes all day on how to respond to her ex.”

“Have you met him.”

“Twice I guess.”

“And what did you think.”

Saeyoung shrugged.  “I don’t know, he didn’t say much.  He was nice to Max and I think he tried to stare me down, but he rushed us out of there pretty quick.”

“Torture my hair!” She yelled. “Your voice is your paycheck and you smoke like a fucking Chimney!”

“I’m quitting!”

“And the Oscar for best dramatic performance goes to!”

“Should we gather our girlfriend?” Saeyoung laughs.

Jumin stiffens. “I suppose Assistant Kang’s neighbors may complain if we let this go on any longer.”

Jumin gathered her things and Saeyoung gathered her up and over his shoulder.  Jaehee was whispering _where did she even find clippers_ when they said goodbye and Callie was practically cackling when he set her down at the end of the hall.

“Do you need a drive home?” Jumin asked on the elevator.

“I don’t drink,” Saeyoung reminded him.

“So, did you get that out of your system?” he chuckles in the car.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m with Jaehee, where did you even find clippers?”

She bursts out laughing again and reaches into her bag. “MY PURSE!”

“Oh my god you planned that.”

“Well not exactly _that_ but trust Zen to not know when to stop talking. Hey, does it make you uncomfortable when I drink?”

“Have we reached the sentimental portion of the evening?”

She frowns at him.

“It doesn’t and if it ever does you will be the first to know.”

“I saw you talking to Jumin, is it awkward because of me?”

He sighs.

“You talked me into it, I’m ok saying no you know?”

“I like that you go to those dinners, it’s awkward because of me.”

She’s quiet for the rest of the drive and he hopes that, although she’s not drunk, she’s maybe had enough to drink that she doesn’t remember that. But later, lying in bed he feels her fingers curl around his and when her head rests on his chest she asks.

“What did you mean?”

“About what?”

“About Jumin, you said that you’re why it’s awkward, did you say something?”

“Can we pretend you were drunk and forget I said that?”

“Saeyoung I’m honestly ok if you want me to stop being Jumin’s platonic girlfriend.  I mean you were right, I do like to go dancing with him and I definitely enjoy the attention but I am totally ok with going back to the occasional lunch.”

“No, I don’t.  It’s not like that. It’s, ughh.”

“Wait, did you just cover your face? Are you blushing?”

He hears the click of the lamp turning on and he knows if he takes his hands away she’ll be looking down at him, smirking.

“Does Saeyoung Choi is gay?”

“I thought you didn’t like that joke.”

“No, I thought it was a little mean spirited aimed at Jumin when he was already uncomfortable.”

He uncovers his face, and there she is, hovering above him orange eyes practically sparkling, and the smirk.

“So are you going to explain? Do you think Jumin is pretty because I’m not going to lie, he is kind of pretty.”

“Callie,” he groans.  “Are you really going to make me say it?”

“Are you seriously embarrassed?  Honestly whatever kink you’ve discovered can’t be that bad.  Haven’t you checked my search history?”

He laughs despite himself.  “Ok fine, I _like_ the idea of you two together.”

“Now when you say together,” she smirks and he wants to cover his face again but she catches his hands. “you don’t mean, having a meal, or dancing with clients.”

“Oh my god Callie.”

“You mean you like the idea of Jumin and I after dinner, maybe being _more than friends_?” She waggles her eyebrows at him comically.

“Callie—”

“Do we do more than kiss?”

She’s a little surprised when he nods.  He’s a little surprised when her face turns serious.

“So is it just a fantasy?  Is it just us, or like _us_ the 3 of us?  Do you watch or do you join in?”

“Wow, jesus, slow down.”

“No it’s been months and you’ve done a lot of asking about my stuff, but is this something you want?  Because I mean I can only speak for me but I don’t think it’s out of the question.”

“Wait what?”

“I mean especially if you just want to watch.”

“What?”

“10 years in a shitty marriage and one of the things I promised myself was that if I got into a relationship again I want to support each other’s kinks, you’ve really pulled it together on that end and let me tell you this is not something I’m even a little opposed to, not anyway I can imagine it.”

“Callie what are you saying?”

“I’m saying if you want whatever you’ve been thinking that has you all fucked up about Jumin to be real I can support that.  I’m pretty sure if I present it to Jumin in the right way he’ll be into it.”

“Wait what?”

“He’s pretty repressed and I think a little afraid of himself.  I think with the right set of rules he’d be an easy sell.  I mean if that’s what you want.”

“I don’t, uh, you just, you took that a lot easier than I thought.”

He almost can’t believe that she blushes. “Ok, maybe I got a little excited.  Did I go too far?  Would you rather I make something up?”

He doesn’t answer, he turns off the lamp and she lays back down, she almost thinks he’s fallen asleep when she hears him say _maybe I have an idea._


	7. Intro to Poly 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan put into action

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've mentioned that Callie goes by her middle name (Short for Calliope), I should note that Jumin refers to her by her proper name, Amelia. If this is confusing I will note that he does eventually revert to Calliope in later chapters.

 Jumin isn’t sure about the way she’s been looking at him all night, with a slight smirk and a raised eyebrow.  At first he thinks he may be the butt of a joke, perhaps Saeyoung has talked her into something.  Then he reminds himself that Amelia would not jeopardise her business for Saeyoung’s _does Jumin Han is gay_ silliness.  Still the look discomforts him.

He orders a bottle of wine for the table and finds himself surprised when Amelia asks for Scotch.

“Ms Miller you’ll have to be more specific than that,” his father scolds her playfully.  “You’ll end up with some garbage not even old enough to vote.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Han.  I assumed the calibre of the table put us above well shots.  In that case I’ll have something in its 20s, single, and neat.”

“Wouldn’t we all,” one of the women across the table smiles.  Everyone laughs, except Jumin.

She glances at him again and smirks, eyebrow raised.  He considers telling her she’s making him uncomfortable, but that didn’t seem like the right word.  It seemed foolish that he felt jealous, she wasn’t his and even if she had been flirting with his father, well she’d certainly flirted with his clients before, and that hadn’t bothered him.  No it was something about the way she was looking at him tonight that caused this somehow pleasantly uncomfortable feeling.

“Your father likes me,” she whispers behind her menu.

“My father likes attractive women.”

She laughs, a little louder than necessary and he catches himself blushing when a few heads at their table turn towards them. “I’m going to take that as a compliment, even though I don’t think you meant it that way.”

Jumin exhales through his nose, but he smiles back at her.

“Do you like my hair?” She asks quietly, a hand on his knee as she leans past him to take her drink from the waitress.

“It was not necessary to style yourself for me, your hair is part of your brand.”

Eyebrow raised, wry smirk, she sips her scotch under his father’s watchful eye.  In truth he was disappointed.  Her tendency towards asymmetrical styles had been somewhat of a safety net for him, helping him distance himself from her.  She was not his, after all.  Yet tonight she appeared to be playing at it and that concerned him.

The dinner went off without a hitch, Amelia managed questions about her personal life with charming indifference.  He’d had concerns about a business dinner of this calibre, while she’d been to meals with his father or one single client he’d had reservations about bringing his pretend girlfriend to an event that featured so many spouses, of course his father had insisted.

She’d done spectacularly and she excelled winning over the wives while still playing as one of the boys.  Something he certainly had found to admire about her.  And yet tonight, while she played his game, she seemed to have found her own, with her smirks, and touches.  It had taken everything he had not to pull her aside and demand she explain.

“Hey,” she grins at him behind the dessert menu. Her fingers dance along his thigh, “are you going to order dessert?”

“Is everything okay with Luciel?” he asks through gritted teeth.

Her grin changes then from the playful teasing smirk to a wide, almost foolish smile. “Of course, things are, well, they’re _fantastic_.”

Her face and her voice are so genuine that he almost forgets the absurdity of the hand on his thigh. “That’s good to hear, he’s been _cold_ lately I thought perhaps our arrangement was causing problems.”

She laughs and shifts her weight, her legs rest against his as she leans on the table.  “Little dangerous to be whispering about right here though?”

He blushes.  “You mentioned dessert?”

“Well you know there are sweets stashed around the bunker like the government is planning to ban sugar at any moment, and Max is getting home right around now.”

“This late?”

“It was supposed to be supper time until it wasn’t me picking her up and then it changed, I think he thought he could wait me out. Joke’s on him.”

“If you’d like to leave, we certainly can.”  He tries not to sound too excited, but he’s more than happy to end this too strange night.

She smiles and hooks a hand in his elbow as they both stand. “It was lovely to see you again Mr. Han.”  Her smile is so bright and palpable in that moment that Jumin almost laughs.  Whatever their relationship she really did enjoy dinners with his father.

“You’re not leaving already,” Mr. Han laments.

“Amelia has responsibilities beyond your ego father,” Jumin scolds.

“What he means is my daughter has rules Mr. Han.  You don’t want me to miss lunch this weekend because I’m grounded, do you?”

The table laughs and Jumin tries not to notice how her hand tightens on his arm, nor the way she rests her head on his shoulder when he pays for the table.  He definitely does not notice the way she absently traces her lips with her thumbs when she leans on the counter as he collects their coats.

“I’m sorry,” Jumin says frowning at his phone.  “We are a little earlier than I had planned.  I thought it would be quicker to find Driver Kim in the parking garage but it seems he’s not here at the moment.  Would you like to go back up to the lobby to wait for him?”

Had he not been so busy not noticing all the little things about her he might have noticed the flash of light in a familiar silver car, or the way she winked in that direction.

“No it’s ok,” she smiles at him again, the wry smile from earlier.  “It’s kind of nice down her, with no one watching us.”

He shrugs, he wouldn’t use the word nice, it smelled like exhaust, and gasoline, though he had to consider that she did seem fond of vehicles, so those smells might trigger different reactions. _Certainly_ he told himself he would have to consider that as much as he enjoys the way Elizabeth III smelled Amelia did not seem to appreciate her in the same way.

Finally distracted by thoughts of Elizabeth Jumin _didn’t_ notice when she turned around, or the way she was looking up at him, he didn’t notice until he felt her fingers tease the hair at the nape of his neck.  She didn’t seem surprised when he grabbed her hands instead he’s more than a little shocked when she guides his hands to her hips.

It seemed that minutes passed, as she stretches onto her toes and runs her hands inside his coat until they rest again at the nape of his neck.  She stops then, lips not quite on his.

“Is this ok?” She asks quietly, that lopsided grin and quirked eyebrow.

 _Is it?_ He thinks.  _What about Saeyoung?_ He almost asked. But instead of asking, instead of pushing her away he was crushing her against him, gathering her up like a swooning buffoon in a romance film as he covers her mouth in a hungry kiss.  He feels her hook her foot around the back of his leg as her fingers curl in his hair, her nails dragging across his scalp.  He loses himself in the feel of her mouth, the way she opens herself to him and sighs against him, the way the skirt of the dress she’d _finally_ let him buy for her bunches beneath his hands revealing bare flesh.

He loses himself in the taste and feel of her trapped against him, supple in his arms until the phone in his hand buzzes and meows in the irritating cat tone Saeyoung had programmed that he’d completely forgotten to change.  He finds himself rather quickly then, and tries not to notice the way Amelia smirks against him.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles without making eye contact.

“Nothing to apologise for,” she smiles and chews at her bottom lip while she straightens her dress.

“I’ll have Driver Kim take you home, _alone_.  I will find a taxi.”

“There’s no need, Jumin”

“There is _every_ need, Amelia.”

“Not at all,” she laughs. “Saeyoung is here for me.” She waves and the headlights in Luciel’s silver Ferrari flash on them like a spot light and Jumin immediately starts to sweat.

“Amelia,” he says concerned.  A hand out as she steps closer to him, but it doesn’t stop her.

She grazes his cheek with her swollen lips and nips his earlobe before whispering in his ear, words he’s not sure he believes until after he watches her drive away in Saeyoung’s flashy car and he looks down at his phone. 

A video clip from Luciel, _don’t worry about Saeyoung_ , with the caption, _this was his idea_ , “How are you at sharing, Mista Trustfundkid?”

 


	8. Intro to Poly 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wouldn't call this NSFW but maybe someone might?

“Shit.  _Holy Shit_ , shit.  Fuck, shit!”  Saeyoung is practically hyperventilating when the door to his car opens.

Jumin is caught in the headlights, frozen as Callie melts into the leather seat.

“That was—”

“Jesus.”

Jumin glances from them to his phone as Saeyoung pulls out and past him.

“Fuuuuck,” Callie groans, he sees her run her fingers through her hair and let her head fall back.

“I have been usurped, God Callie, master of men.  What can’t you do?”

Her hands slap against the leather as she lets them drop from her head. “What did you send him, holy shit.  I wanna call you a cock block but, wow.”

“I mean I didn’t know, I didn’t— Wow, yeah,” he laughs. “What did you say, I mean how did you?”

“Fuck,” she laughs.  “Oh fuck, pull over.  I can’t—” she dissolves into laughter.  Side clutching, doubled over laugher.

For his part, he’s laughing too.  Picking Max up had been tense.  It was the first time he’d been alone with Callie’s ex-husband and the man had a way about him that felt aggressive even when he was smiling and he asked questions that seemed pointedly personal. He didn’t want to call it prying, there was a strange familiarity that came with talking to a person who’d been married to your partner.  It was times like that Saeyoung felt their age difference deep to his toes.

But not moments like this, sitting in an empty parking lot laughing until they cry at almost 10pm on a Thursday night.  He’s barely caught his breath from laughing when she’s crawled over the center console and into his lap.  She sits there, still giggling, her feet dangling awkwardly over the armrest.

“I didn’t _say_ anything, to him.  Poor Jumin.”

He grabs her face and kisses her between laughter.  “I might have asked him if her likes to share.”

“You asked what?”

“I sent him a video of you two kissing and asked if he was good at sharing?”

“Oh my god, _poor Jumin_.” She turns then, her face still in his hands and scrambles to her knees, he kisses her on the nose and lets his hands drop.

She reaches towards his face with both hands and pulls his glasses off, everything in front of him is soft edges as she reaches behind her and hooks them on the visor. He watches the way she frowns and smiles as she decides what she’s going to do.  The way her face moves like she’s having a conversation with herself.  She reaches up and runs a hand through his messy hair and he remembers the way she’d played with Jumin’s hair.

Saeyoung let’s himself notice the different way she approaches him, the way she starts at his temple rather than his nape, the way she runs her fingers through his hair instead of letting them tangle and tug.  The way she rises up on her knees until she’s looking down on him smiling instead of staring up waiting to be kissed.

Callie considers the ways in which kissing Saeyoung is different than Jumin, she tilts his head back and watches the way he smiles at her.  She presses her forehead to his, her lips rest against his, noses smooshed together and his smile widens.  She considers the way his hands rest on her thighs, fingers twitching but not pressing.  She runs her hands along the sides of his face and traces his jaw with her thumbs before kissing him properly.

It’s not until her tongue teases past his teeth that his hands grasp her thighs and squeeze, not until her teeth nip his lips that his hands move to her hips.  His arms wrap around her waist and he presses her back against the steering wheel.  He wonders for a moment what the expensive dress Jumin paid for is made of, as his pushes it up exposing more and more of her thighs.

Her hands drop to his chest and push him back against the seat.  He wonders if he’d had a normal youth would he have done something like this sooner as she fights with the button on his jeans and his fingers find the edge of the pretty blue panties he’s watched her put on that afternoon.  Her hand on his chest again and she drags herself away from the kiss.

“Where is your phone?”

“What?”

“Your phone?  Mine is in my purse on the floor, where is yours?”

Seven reaches into the compartment behind the gear shift, leaning forward just far enough to nip at her arm.  He hands her his phone and watches her, chest heaving in the sweetheart neckline. She leans forward and kisses him again, softly this time.  Her free hand dropping back to his waist band he starts, again, sliding his hands past the hemline of her dress when she leans back, he thinks to catch her breath, and there’s the familiar shutter sound of the camera on his phone.

 


	9. Intro to Poly 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a day late, you get two chapters as an apology.

Jumin isn’t sure what he’s gotten himself into. And a part of him hopes that when his alarm goes off in the morning that none of it happened.  Inappropriate dreams were certainly one thing, but he can’t seem to rationalize that he made the decision to involve himself in this.  Yesterday morning he would have said it was impossible, that he was above such base interactions, and yet now, thumbing through the gallery on his phone Jumin didn’t have an excuse.

He was in the elevator when the second text came through, replaying the events of the evening, trying to come up with a good reason for kissing Amelia, to explain the text from Saeyoung in some way that made sense.  He’d called Assisstant Kang twice and hung up before it started to ring and when his phone vibrated, ringer now off, he looked instinctively expecting something curt from her not, this.

Not Luciel’s down turned face, not Amelia’s flushed chest and certainly not the way their hands pushed past the boundaries of the other’s clothes.  He’d quickly turned off the screen of his phone despite being the only person in the elevator.

Once home it nagged at him.  He was sure this was some kind of game, a joke.  He hung up his coat, folded his jacked and was unbuttoning his vest when his phone buzzed again.  He told himself he wasn’t going to answer but he could not abide the flashing light.  He would simple close the notification and be done with it.

 _In case you don’t know how sharing works, how about some show and tell._ His thumb hovers over the notification but he can’t seem to make himself move, that’s when the second message comes through and he’s left with simply _2 unread messages_.

He’s unbuttoning his shirt when it gets the best of him, would the second message explain what was happening, or simply continue whatever madness had taken Amelia and Luciel.  He exhales through his nose and snatches up his phone.

_We’ve shown, now you tell._

He sits down heavy on the edge of his bed.  This is exactly what wasn’t supposed to happen.  Amelia was charming, she could keep up with the clients and their partners, she was able to appear attached to him without inciting anymore gossip than that which surrounded his assistant.  He wouldn’t lie to himself that he hadn’t considered, briefly, what it would be like have her as his own, but she had chosen Saeyoung and that had been supposed to be his safety net.

He missed V.  V would see what he’s missing.  V would talk him out of doing exactly what he was doing. 

Now, hours later, after a fitful sleep he has to ask himself what he’s doing.  He forces himself to close the photos, dial the phone.

Jaehee’s voice is groggy when she answers and Jumin glances at the clock.  _Odd_ , he thinks _, that Assistant Kang would still be sleeping when she was to be at work in two hours_

“Please contact Saeyoung and Amelia and arrange a breakfast meeting.”

“Can’t you?” Jumin waits a moment. “I mean of course, Mr. Han.  It just seems like, is this business, I’m sorry what should I tell them you’re meeting about.”

Jumin can feel his ears get hot. “They’ll know.” He hangs up the phone.

 


	10. Intro to Poly 10

“Listen.”

“Listen.”

“Listen.”

“List—“

“Listen!”

Saeyoung watches his little family dissolve into laugher.  Even Saeren has joined in teasing Max this morning, smiling and laughing over cereal and coffee.

“Mom, listen,” Max starts again when they stop laughing.  “I’m serious.”

“I know you are.”

“Mr. Han kept you out very late last night.”

Saeren’s eyes narrow at him over his giant coffee cup.  He’d still been awake playing games with Yoosung when they’d stumbled in from the garage tangled in each other’s clothing.

“And it was very nice of Saeren and Saeyoung to keep you company until bed time.”

“Mom.”

“Maxine.”

He could see the 8 year old mirror of Callie rolling her eyes behind her orange juice.

“You know those dinners are part of my job and Jumin is not in control of how late either of us have to stay.”

“Dad thinks,” she trails off as everyone turns to look at her. 

Callie shoots a warning look at each of the twins in turn before she looks at Max.  “Sweetheart I’m sure your Dad thinks a lot of things.”

“It’s just,” she sighs.  “He says there’s a lot of pictures of you and Mr. Han.”  She glances towards Saeyoung and he smiles at her.

“Max, your Dad could ask me if he’s concerned about anything in our life.  Are you concerned about me and Jumin?”

“No, but I looked and there _are_ pictures.”

“A lot of pictures,” Callie agrees, “of Jumin and I eating lunch and getting out of cars.”

“I know but—”

“Remember when we moved in with Oma and Opa and you started at the school there.”

“You mean the rumors.”

“Yeah, those people talking about the pictures are making up rumors about Jumin and I.  Jumin is very private and one of the reasons I accompany Jumin so often is because the rumors don’t bother me, and if they’re busy trying to figure out who I am to him they’re not harassing Jaehee, or the other women who work directly for Jumin.”

“Dad said you like the attention.”

Saeren snorts.

“Well, he’s got me there,” Callie smiles and shakes her head.  “The attention is free press, if people are talking about me they look up my show and maybe they end up liking it.”

“So you pretend to be his girlfriend?”

“Not exactly, he always introduces me as his close friend, but we let people think I’m his girlfriend if that’s what they want to think.”

“You were still supposed to be home in time to tuck me in.”

“And you were supposed to have your bag packed for school so we aren’t late this morning, it seems we’re both disappointed.”

Max shrugs, “I guess I won’t ground you this time.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

The three of them manage to get Max to the bus just in time, with Saeren packing her lunch and Saeyoung packing her bag while Callie got her dressed and bargained with her to brush her hair.  Callie doesn’t have time to change out of her pajama’s but Saeyoung suspects she never intended to.  He snaps a picture of them from the doorway and Callie manages to flip him off behind her back.

Callies phone vibrates on the counter as he opens the RFA app on his own, he considers running it out to her but decides the world won’t end in the ten minutes she’ll be gone.  He puts the picture up in the chatroom and waits.

 _Are those Ninja turtles?_ Yoosung responds immediately.

 _You let her go out in her pajama’s Seven?_ Zen isn’t far behind.

 _I don’t let Callie do anything_ , he responds. _How did telling her what to do work out for you Zen?_ He’s contemplating emojis when Jaehee enters the chat.

_I don’t know what either of you did to Mr. Han but please ask Callie to answer her phone._

He decides on the confused emoji

 _He called me twice late last night and hung up before I answered, then again this morning at 6am insisted I set a breakfast meeting with you and Callie and chastised me for over sleeping,_ her angry emoji. _I was up until 2am running numbers on cat food for his newest project.  Please tell me where I should make arrangements._

He hears the door open and close.  Callie has entered the chatroom.  Callie has left the chatroom. Jaehee Kang has left the chatroom.

Saeyoung glances up from his phone and watches Callie tuck her hair behind her ear. 

“No I swear this isn’t...God Jaehee really?  He’s really upset you think?”  She worries her bottom lip for a minute. “No, no I do know what it’s about...don’t worry I swear...not cats no,” she laughs.  “No, no.  Don’t do that...  No, ask him to meet us here...I’m sure it isn’t...I’ll take all the blame...Tell him I insisted...Thanks Babe.”

“Babe?” he laughs when she sets the phone down.

“Apparently we broke Jumin.”

It wasn’t long before the man himself walked through the door. Saeren had left with a backpack over his shoulder and they’d relaxed into their usual morning, Saeyoung was pretzeled into his desk chair working his current freelance gig while Callie lay on the couch, feet over the back, head dangling off the cushions while she compiled playlists for her broadcast.  She doesn’t look at him when the door opens.

“What the fuck even are these songs Zen sent me,” she calls across the house.  Saeyoung inclines his head towards her.  “I’ve never even heard most of them, and at least three are fan parody’s about him.  I can’t put this in my show.”

Saeyoung laughs and spins his chair around, feet hitting the floor when he sees Jumin standing by the door.

“He’s been there for three whole minutes,” Callie shrugs sitting up.

“You’re so Vain,” Jumin says softly as he removes his coat.

“What?”

“Carly Simon, You’re so Vain, for your broadcast with Zen.”

Saeyoung laughs.

“Holy shit,” she whispers. “Why didn’t I think of that?” 

Jumin watches her add the song and slide her laptop onto the coffee table before swinging herself upright on the couch.

“Did you want a coffee?” She asks, standing and stretching. “I assume you didn’t actually want to _eat_ but I could probably make you something if you really wanted.”

He shakes his head.  “No thank you, Amelia.  I would take a cup of tea if you don’t mind.”

She smiles and he watches her move through the small kitchen. “Sorry, I promised myself I would stay in my pajama’s all day today so as much as breakfast on C&R sounded lovely, it couldn’t compete with not having to put on real pants.”

He doesn’t exactly understand the sentiment but he nods and looks away when she reaches for a mug and her shirt rises up exposing a few inches of her back including the top of her underwear.

Saeyoung reaches into the cupboard around her and tosses a container of what appears to be homemade cookies on the table and then pulls an energy drink out of the refrigerator. Saeyoung’s house was cleaner than Jumin ever remembered it.  Though there still was a chaotic quality with clutter covering most surfaces, there didn’t seem to be candy wrappers and dirty dishes lying around.

“So you want to talk about last night?” She smiles handing him a mug and sitting next to Saeyoung.

It’s unsettling standing in the little kitchen with their bright eyes trained on him. “Yes, I’m sorry, I should not have involved myself in your personal life like that.”

“Is that what you think happened?” She asks him.

“I think that we maybe we had too much to drink at a dinner with very small portions.”

“Did I embarrass you, Jumin?  I thought I was pretty damn charming last night.”

“Yes, well, perhaps _too_ Charming, Amelia, considering.”

“I will admit,” she smiles and sips her coffee, “last night did go a lot farther than I had intended.”

“We,” Saeyoung corrects her, “We intended.”

She nods.  “I saw an opportunity and exploited it instead of,” she stumbles for a moment and makes a moving on motion with her hand. “I should have spoken to you.  That had been my intent.  But then I saw the chance to both gauge your interest and cater to Luciel’s.  So I kissed you and if that has made you uncomfortable I apologize.”

Jumin sits heavy across from them.  “You’re speaking as if it was you who kissed me.”

“It may as well have been,” Saeyoung says.

“I spend a lot of time with you, and you always compliment my ability to read people.  You’re not as complicated as you think you are.”  She smiles at him, that wide open smile she has when she’s truly happy with herself.

He’s quiet for a while.  He drinks his tea watching them, the way that they communicate with looks and little touches.  Smiling and bumping shoulders between drinks.  Saeyoung grabs a cookie from the container he’d tossed on the table and dunks it in Amelia’s coffee. She rolls her eyes, exaggerating the motion with her entire head.  He wonders if he spent enough time with them would he understand their subtle language.

“So,” he puts the empty mug on the table. “If we were to have the conversation you’d intended to have in the parking garage, what would you have said?”

Two sets of bright eyes turn on him, and he’s more than a little satisfied that he seems to have caught them off guard.

“Well,” she draws the word out and glances towards Saeyoung.  “I didn’t really have a script, which is why just kissing you seemed like a better way to ask.”

“It’s just that I spent a lot of time watching people on CCTV,” Saeyoung starts.

“And I’m not exactly opposed to being watched,” she chimes in.

“Except I can’t really, you know, _spy_ on her if she’s with me.”

“And we both agree that we’ve, you know, _gone there_ , with the current arrangement.”

“I _don’t_ know,” Jumin frowns.  “Gone where?”

“You know,” she sighs exasperated.  “We’ve both thought about you and I doing what that kiss was leading to last night.”

His eyebrows rise. “You mean you have both fantasized about sex with me?”

A look passes between them. “About Callie and you,” Seven offers with a shrug.  “Not that I’m opposed if that’s a thing you’re into.”

“A _thing_ , I’m _into_ ,” Jumin repeats.

The quiet that falls now does not lend itself to joivial poking.  No one looks at anyone else until finally Jumin clears his throat.

“I woke this morning, worried I broken boundaries, concerned that perhaps I’d taken advantage of a weak moment in your relationship.”

“Oh fuck, no,” She laughs but Jumin puts up a hand.

“What you’re telling me is that you have both, through open discussion decided to invite me into your relationship, through the convenience of our working relationship?”

“I mean, I guess,” Saeyoung shrugs. 

“It’s not as sordid as you’re making it sound.” She pushes her coffee cup away and frowns at him.  “Yes our working relationship, as you put it, did lend itself to the fantasies that encouraged our _encounter_ , but we didn’t chose to extend you this offer without really considering it.”

“Truely?”

“If at any moment last night you had not seemed receptive I would not have moved forward.  Not to mention we did discuss other options.  Yoosung is cute but he’s a baby, Zen doesn’t know when to stop talking and honestly I think he would be horribly scandalized by the offer.  We did seriously discuss Jaehee, she’s wound so tightly and doesn’t have time for a proper relationship—”

“Please move on.” Jumin is blushing.

“But we both like you, and if you are uncomfortable with any kind of arrangement, then that’s ok.  We’ll probably abandon it.”

“It seems strange to make such an arrangement within the RFA,” Jumin says thoughtfully.

“Who else can we really trust?” Saeyoung asks.

“I mean we could look elsewhere but Saeyoung is right.  There’s no question of trust and the three of us leaving a dinner or a party together invites much less speculation.”

Silence falls again.

“Jumin, you’re human.  For a minute stop weighing pros and cons,” Saeyoung says.  “If you enjoyed yourself last night I think you owe it to yourself to at least consider it.”

“What is your offer then?” Jumin asks.

“We can start with whatever you’re comfortable with,” she says softly.

“And Saeyoung requires access to CCTVs where he can _see_ us.”

Seven nods and swallows.  Jumin stands and runs a hand through his hair.  “I will consider this,” he says and leaves.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is now a smut piece that takes place after this chapter you can find [[here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10658928)]


	11. Intro to Poly 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is now a smut piece that takes place before this chapter you can find [[here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10658928)]

Strange to find such peace with such an outlandish idea but sitting in his chair watching Amelia play guitar while Saeyoung made adjustments to his security system brought about a sense of calm he had not expected to experience since Jihyun had passed.  Much like the first night things had progressed faster than any of them had expected and Jumin found himself considering Saeyoung in ways he had not previously thought himself to be interested.

 Amelia made eye contact as she sang an American folk song, she smiled between breaths and he smiled back.  He’d made arrangements for her to perform at C&R events, an offer Hyun had turned down, and he enjoyed the way she always seemed to stand out, even dressed in modest black and white meant to blend with the band, but in moments like this, it seemed she sang for him.

A feeling she could evoke sitting down at a piano in his father’s home, or simply singing along to the radio in his car.  She had, of late, a way of making him feel like the only person in the room.  Yet here he was, considering altering that arrangement.

“I work better when you play the Uke,” Saeyoung complained from the kitchen.

“I don’t think Jumin has a Ukulele,” she shrugged.  “I didn’t know he had this beautiful fucking guitar though so who knows what he’s hiding in here.”

“Is it a nice guitar?” Jumin asks, surprised by her reverence.  He’d assumed her excitement when he’d given it to her had simply been appreciation of a gift. “A client gave it to me last Christmas.”

“It’s a 3000$ Martin, Jumin.  I mean maybe more now, it’s a special edition.”

“I’m glad it’s made you happy.” 

Sometimes when she came to his penthouse she would be dressed for him, even with Saeyoung in tow.  She might wear a wig that hides her asymmetrical hair cut, or simply a pattern or colour she knows he’s fond of, but today she was simply herself.  A look that he may have in the past referred to as Saeyoung’s but now forced to think of their relationship in broader terms he knows that is simply her.

Amelia, or Callie, whatever anyone called her made no difference; she was most comfortable in torn jeans and well worn sweaters, and despite an appreciation for delicate shoes he knew, should he care to look, there would be a pair of big clunky boots next to Saeyoung’s sneakers.

“Ok, fine, it’s a nice guitar,” Seven concedes.  “But can it really shred like your Uke?”

“I regret ever teaching myself to play Metalica on a Ukulele,” she groans.

“Never, ever, regret that,” he says seriously.  “That was your biggest accomplishment to date.”

“Right at this moment I think my greatest accomplishment would be not letting your brother kill you.”

“Touche.”

Jumin chuckles despite himself.

“This guitar will never _shred_ ,” she says hugging it to her chest reverently. “This guitar will play only the finest of songs that make you want to braid flowers into your hair, and wear pretty cotton sundresses.”

“That’s a very interesting visual,” Jumin muses.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late, there was snow day chaos. I will however have some related art on my tumblr which I hope makes up for it  
> http://cannibalkats.tumblr.com/


	12. Admissions 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> extra chapter this week for length.

Jumin’s text had stated he wanted to see her right away, even though there was clearly someone in his office right now.  She pauses for a moment in front of Jaehee’s desk but she only smiles at her so Callie takes a breath, corrects her posture and steps past the threshold.

“Still Mr. Han,” the woman in front of Jumin speaks harshly, “you have to admit it’s more than a little hypocritical that C&R talks a big talk in keeping their hiring practices local while you invest in your American girlfriend’s company.”

She steps around the reporter to stand with Jumin behind his desk and the woman has the sense to look a little embarrassed.  Callie doesn’t step too close to Jumin, she doesn’t even bend for his usual kiss on the cheek.

“Jumin,” she asks, ignoring the woman in front of them. “I thought C&R didn’t interview with gossip magazines.”

He suppresses a smirk.  “I’m sorry, we were supposed to meet for lunch to discuss the event this weekend,” he pats her hand.  “I’m running a little late, I assumed a publication of this calibre would send someone with a better researched questionnaire.”

“What Mr. Han means is that your concerns are superficial.  You were aware, I’m sure, that our relationship, whatever it may be, is not open for discussion, however I have been a duel citizen since my birth, and I’ve lived in the area for the majority of my life.  Which is exactly the reason my employer sent me rather than one of our more experienced correspondents.”

“You should also be aware,” Jumin chimed in.  “That C&R holds stock only in their Korean sister station.”

“They are two separate entities,” Amelia clarifies.

“And you met Miss. Miller, establishing this business relationship, through your charity organization.”

They nod.

“How did Miss. Miller become involved with the RFA.  I certainly do not see any other American connections within _that_ organization.”

“Oh,” Amelia chuckles.  Jumin glances at her with an eyebrow slightly quirked.  “Yoosung Kim.”

“Yoosung Kim?” she parrots.

“He’s the organizations youngest member, and apparently a fan of my broadcasting personality, Callie Cannibal.  He approached me and offered me membership on a trial basis.”

“I was actually against it,” Jumin adds.

“I admit I only accepted Mr. Kim’s offer as a way to fill my spare time.  I hadn’t intended at that time to take the position that would move me here permanently—” Callie is interrupted by Jaehee who is followed into Jumin’s office by two of C&R’s security guards.

“I’m sorry Mr. Han, the magazine just called and let us know their correspondent would not be able to make your interview.”

The woman in front of them throws herself at Jaehee, who side steps, she’s caught by the guards and escorted out of the building.  Jaehee and Amelia kneel down to gather the things she lost, her phone, an earring and a shoe.

“At least she won’t have her interview,” Jumin sighs.

“I’m sorry, her press badge was legitimate Mr. Han.  I will be contacting the magazine—”

“Don’t worry about it Jaehee,” Callie smiles at her.  “I’ll give her phone to Saeyoung, he’ll deal with it.”

“That’s not necessary,” Jumin says, taking her hand and placing a quick kiss to her cheek.  “Assistant Kang is very capable in dealing with these people.”

“I am sure she is Jumin but she is also very busy and Luciel is bored.”

 


	13. Admissions 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I guess I should just accept that I update on Tuesdays...

He didn’t know what he was expecting when she called, but it wasn’t this, not on the anniversary of everything that had happened last year.  Most of all he would never have ever thought it would be her idea.

“This might be weird,” she started when he answered.  No hello, just; _this might be weird_.

“Weirder than anything else you’ve said to me?” He chuckles.

“OK, so it’s not _that_ weird.  I just thought, today being what it is, you might want to,” she trailed off. 

“I’m sorry,” she hadn’t just mumbled what he thought she’d mumbled.

“Visit V.  I thought you might want to visit V.”

“You are aware that Jihyun is not with us anymore,” he regrets it as soon as it’s out of his mouth.

“Ok, it was a stupid idea.  I thought you might want to come with us, sorry.”

“I’m sorry I was trying to make a joke.  Are you inviting me to visit Jihyun’s grave with you and Saeyoung?”

“Oh hell no,” she groans.  “The twins are not having a great day, I want to get Max out for a bit while they sort their shit out and _considering_ , it just seemed like a nice day for it.”

“You want to bring Max?”

“I know she didn’t know V, and I know I probably have plenty of reasons to be as fucked up as the twins today.  I just thought maybe it would be a nice thing to do with you.”

Jumin had never really been one to visit a grave, if pressed he supposed he did believe in god but standing graveside somberly speaking to someone who has supposedly passed on to some better place did not seem like a good use of time. That however did not seem to be what Amelia had planned when she pushed Max out the door and towards his car, guitar case in hand.

“I thought we could stop at the market and get some things for a picnic.”

“Really?” He asks, she wore her usual clunky boots over leggings, but he was surprised to see her in a pretty floral sundress.

“Yeah, it’s a gorgeous day, I thought we could have lunch with V.”

It was not a phrase he thought he’d hear anyone say again, it brings to mind bright eyes and blonde hair, and he feels his voice catch when he speaks.  “That sounds wonderful.”

“Mom says that V was your best friend.”

“That’s right Max.  V and Jumin were friends like you and Charlie.”

Jumin swallows and relays their plans to Driver Kim, and every time he thinks he has control of himself Max asks another question about V that takes the wind out of him.  Amelia has heard him reminisce plenty through the last year though and she answers where she can and redirects when she can’t.

“Are Saeyoung and Saeren alright alone?” He asks quietly while Max stares out the window distracted.

She shrugs.  “I mean I don’t think I’ll have to clean up anyone’s blood when we get home.”

He raises his eyebrows at her.

“Neither one wants to admit that this is why they’re messed up today, they’re sulking in their corners.  There’s nothing I can do about it, and if we’re home they’ll just snap at us and then feel worse for snapping so I thought we’d try to get out.”

“Very considerate of you.”

“You think this is weird,” she says changing the subject.

“You’re not the only person who visits gravesites.”

“But you don’t know anyone who takes a picnic right?”

“I’m intrigued; I expect the Kim’s have already been there today, I did not expect you to show interest in visiting.”

“I mean, that’s what you do right?  Maybe the way I approach it is a little different?”

“How often would your family do something like this?”

“Oh, uh at least once a year,” she doesn’t meet his eyes.  “It was different here because we didn’t have anyone buried in Korea, but my aunts, uncles and cousins would send us photo’s of their visits and we would go ourselves if we were home.”

“Have you ever lost a friend?”  Jumin’s earnest look causes her chest to tighten.

“When I was in high school I lost a few, only one was buried here though.”

“And you do this for them?”

“We’re too far for me to now but I did, it was usually just me though.”

“What did you do alone.”

She laughs. “Underage drinking and eating sweets mostly.”

Jumin laughs too and Max looks at them.  “You didn’t speak with them?  Isn’t that why most people visit graves?”

“I guess I did in a way.”

He twines his fingers in with hers and squeezes.  By the time Driver Kim stops they’ve fallen into silence.  He takes her cloth grocery bag and Amelia takes her guitar out and leaves the case in the trunk.  It’s the Martin he’d given her, the strap she’s attached is sequin and the sun glitters off of it in a way that reminds him of one of Vs photos.

“Are you going to play for him?” Jumin asks as the weave their way through the stones to V’s plot.

She blushes.  “I don’t know, I thought he would like that.  Everyone else has heard me sing, even Rika.”

“I think he would have liked that.”

“What do think we should sing to Mr. Kim, Max?”

The little girl is suddenly shy, she hums a few bars of a song, and Amelia nods.  She adjusts the guitar and leans against the headstone before strumming and looking to Max, who smiles wide and nods.  He thinks he recognises the tune.  Amelia’s voice picks up and he knows the song, he’d never heard it sung in English but he could remember sitting in Jihyun’s room listening to the album very vividly.  He could see Mrs. Kim with paint streaked across her forehead smiling in the doorway.

Max chimes in and their voices rise, drowning out the ambient sounds.  He can see the few people in the cemetery looking at them. Amelia’s head nods and her foot taps while Max keeps tempo slapping her leg, they’re oblivious to the few people passing them by.  She leans down to face Max as the song Crescendos and they both sing out _What’s going on,_ at the top of their lungs.

He finds himself laughing quietly then.  Jihyun would have enjoyed this, if spirits do visit the living he hoped his friend was watching them now, would he have clapped when she finished and Max bowed dramatically, or would he simply have had kind words.

She rests her guitar against the marker and takes the bag from Jumin.  She sits down in the grass across from the headstone and Max throws herself in her mother’s lap.  Amelia smiles up at him from the ground while she folds down the edge of her grocery bag and he reluctantly sits in the grass with them.

“I should have brought a bottle of wine,” he muses.

“Graveyards and day drinking just seem to go together huh?”  It’s not long before Max slips her mother’s phone out of her hand and starts to run off.  “Hey where are you going?”

The girl shrugs.  “I was gonna look for pokemon and pick flowers.”

“Ok but stay where you can see Jumin and I and don’t pick any flowers from someone’s plot you hear?”

“Fine,” the child pouts.  “I only happened once and it was an accident,” she mumbles as she walks away.

They sit in silence for a while watching Max weave in and out of the markers, glancing back at scattered intervals.  Eventually Amelia lays back against him, he brushes her hair out of her face and she smiles up at him.

“What are you thinking?” She asks.

“I wonder what he’d say about this.”

“I think V would want you to be happy.”

“That was his problem, wasn’t it?  He wanted everyone to be happy.”

“You think wouldn’t have approved?”

Jumin sighs. “I think Jihyun would have talked me out of this before it ever started but I’ve started to learn that maybe Jihyun was not as wise as I believed him to be.”

She doesn’t say anything, she just looks up at him with her big tea coloured eyes.

“I think,” he continues.  “that if he could see us now he would agree that our arrangement is a good thing for all of us.”

“Do you think he would have liked me?”

Jumin smiles at her.  “I think he _did_ like you.  From what you’ve said of those last few hours I think he would have had to respect you at the very least.”  He considers for a while before he asks, “I know you’re experience was not exactly positive but I’m very interested to know what you thought of him.”

“Hmm,” she closes her eyes.  “I guess it’s complicated.  I mean I only knew him for 11 days, if a couple minutes of chatting and one very awkward visit can really let you know a person.  I admit I’m not his biggest fan.”

“Yet you wanted to come here today.”

“You got me,” she laughs eyes still closed.  “I wanted to come here with you more than I wanted to just _come here_.”  She takes a deep breath.  “I think that given the opportunity I probably would have liked him, I think if he were here right now we’d probably tease you and talk about pretentious art things.  Sometimes when you talk about him and Rika and how things were I wish I’d been there.”  There’s a long pause before she adds.  “I don’t know if Saeyoung will ever forgive him.”

Jumin kisses her on the forehead, it’s without thought to the people in the cemetery visiting their own loved ones.  

“Mom!” Max yells appearing right in front of them, shoving her phone between them.  “Look at this picture I took!”

“What?” She laughs sitting up.

“There weren’t any flowers I could pick and I couldn’t get enough bars for pokemon so I took pictures and look.”

The phone waves between them until Amelia takes it, “Oh,” she gasps and holds it out to Jumin.

“It’s an Oakblue mom, I took a pretty neat selfie right?”

“Very neat,” Amelia agrees.

He looks at the screen; Max’s wide smiling mouth with the blue butterfly sitting wings out on the edge of her glasses.

“I was laying in the grass trying to take a picture of a worm and it just landed.  Cool right?”

“Very _cool_ ,” Jumin smiles handing the phone back.

“Can I send it to Zen, mom?”

Amelia reaches for her guitar and lays back down.  “If you really feel like you need to.”

They sit there a little while longer, Amelia playing soft songs on her guitar, songs he suspected inspired the sundress she wore.  Max played on the phone, stopping to sing along, or point out and name a bird that passes overhead.

He hopes again his friend is there with them, in this peaceful moment.  He could picture them in another time sitting in the garden.  He wondered had things been different would Rika play with Max by the pond?  Would Jihyun take pictures of Amelia playing guitar amongst the flowers. He hopes somewhere V sees them here and wishes them well.

 


	14. Admissions 3

She’d met Jaehee for coffee regularly at first.  Thursday evenings while Max was at Judo they would sit in the little cafe across the street from the dojo and just relax.  Then things at C&R had gotten busy and they’d simply forgotten about it.  So when Jaehee messaged her and asked her out for a cup that evening she’d been excited.

“I hope she doesn’t think she can’t bitch about Jumin if she needs to,” she’d said to Saeyoung while she waited for her taxi.

But the way Jaehee leaps to her feet when she approaches the table makes her nervous.  Obviously the woman had something she wanted to say but the longer they sat in silence the more likely it seemed she wouldn’t.

“You know,” Callie says breaking the silence, “I hope Jumin didn’t give you the bakery assignment.”

“Oh, that?” She jumps a little. “I’ve been running numbers on it all week.”

“Mother fucker,” Callie shakes her head.  “Mr. Chairman can’t even remember this girls name, I’m not even sure she’s not catfishing him.  I told him he should put it off but—”

“He sees a potential for profit regardless of his father’s interest.”

“Still I keep telling him you’re not a robot but you know how he is.”

“I appreciate your concern, Callie.”

She watches Jaehee sip from her cup and open her mouth to speak three more times before she finally can’t stand it anymore.  “What do you want to say?”

“I’m sorry?”

“I mean I thought you wanted to hang out but it’s been a half hour and you’ve just sat there like you’re at the most awkward job interview.”

“It’s just that,” Jaehee inhales deeply and exhales.  “I’m sorry if I’m crossing a line but you did say that our friendship took precedent to your business with Mr. Han and I’m not sure how much longer I can keep this to myself.”

“ _What?”_

“I can’t be the only member to have noticed.”

“Sorry Jaehee, can you slow down,” Callie laughs.

“I thought maybe I was just imagining things, or reading too much into them.”

 _Shit_ , Callie screams internally and sips her coffee trying to keep her face neutral.  They’d discussed telling the other RFA members in their own time but she’d hoped to do that flanked by Luciel and Jumin, not alone in a cafe while her daughter was learning self defence across the street.

“I thought maybe you would be able to explain that I was being foolish but then you came in tonight wearing that ring, and it doesn’t look like it came out of a quarter machine so it can’t be from Luciel.”

“What?” Now she was confused.  “My ring?”

“Yes, Mr. Han had me take it to be sized last week and now you’re wearing it, are you going to tell me he didn’t give it to you?  Or that you coincidentally have an identical ring?  I’ve tried to keep my head down but don’t you think Luciel has been through enough in the last year?”

“My grandmother.”

“What?”

“Jumin _did_ offer to get it sized for me so I could actually wear it but it’s my grandmother’s ring, she left it to me when she passed away, I’ve had it for 6 years now.”

“Really?” Jaehee covers her face.  “Your grandmother’s ring?  Oh god, I’d like to sink directly into the earth right now.”

Callie laughs. “Come on now, you had to have more than a ring to go on though.  Do you want to give me the rest of your evidence; I’m really enjoying the lecture.”

Jaehee groans and Callie feels bad.  She could leave it here for now, Jumin and Saeyoung would want her to but, someone _knowing_.  She can’t help herself.

“Hey, it’s ok.  If you want to know the truth you’re not far off.  I have been spending a lot of time with Jumin and we should have known that you of all people would notice.”

She slides her fingers away from her eyes so she can see Callie. “Wh-what?”

“It’s not exactly what you think though,” Callie almost shouts.

She drops her hands and has a drink of her coffee.

“You’re not far off but I’m not, you know, cheating on Saeyoung. Jumin is probably going to be pissed that I’m telling you.”

“I won’t tell him,” Jaehee says quickly.

Callie smiles. “It’s you know, consensual, the three of us, we’re all, you kn—”

“That’s _fine_ ,” Jaehee says sharply.  “I understand,” she’s blushing. “You don’t have to finish.”

“I was going to say,” Callie laughs, “involved.”

“The three of you are _involved_?”

“There’s probably a better way to say it,” Callie shrugs, “but that’s the jist of it.”

 


	15. Admissions 4

“You’re certain that there’s nothing we should be worrying about,” Jumin asks in the car.

“It’s fine,” she responds sharply.  “It’s a totally innocent security gig, he’s not even hacking he’s just writing a security system and he has to make sure it’s implemented properly.  Saeren went with to help him field test it once it’s live.  They’ll be home the end of the week.”

“And you’re certain you want to consider staying in that _bunker_ alone until then?”

“I’m not alone, remember there’s a whole small person living with me?”

“You and Max could stay with me while Saeyoung is away.”

“You know that’s not a great idea right now Jumin, maybe if Max was with her Dad.  You are welcome to stay with us though.”

“Your home is not appropriately cat proofed.”

“I want you to remember you said that,” she laughs.

She appreciates that he is inviting her and Max both to stay, she knows that is a big step for him but the gossip sites had been particularly well informed lately and more than once they both had thought they’d seen the woman who’d posed as a reporter.  Jumin had chalked it up to paparazzi but Callie wasn’t so sure.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to argue,” Jumin sighs.  “I really did want to take Max shopping, I just feel uncomfortable when I know you’re alone.”

Jumin had long since giving up trying to take her shopping but she could never say no to letting him spoil Max, and the child did love to shop.  He knew they had nothing planned so he’d shown up unannounced and invited them to go shopping and then perhaps the park.  Max had literally dropped what she was doing to change while her mother had given him what he could now tell was a warning look but she’d also gone to change after cleaning up the box of legos Max had dropped.

She cheered up slowly as they shopped.  It was hard to frown when Max would come running over to them with a shirt or a dress asking her mother what size she wore; Callie would smile, thank her for thinking of her, and send her off to find something from the children’s section. In the end Jumin had whispered her sizes to the world’s smallest personal shopper and told her to pick something out for her mother.

Max picked out an entire outfit, shoes and jacket included. 

“It’s only fair,” she whispered to Jumin when she called him over, since he was buying _her_ a five piece suit, that he buy her mother at least five things.

“Alright, show me what you’ve found, quick before she comes back.”

Max holds out a flowing gauzy tunic with a pair of skinny jeans and runs off to retrieve the rest.  She comes back with a leather bike jacket and a tall pair of black boots with a heel that could have doubled as a weapon, and when he takes those she presents to him, like the cherry on top of the perfect outfit, a large amber pendent.

“It’s her favorite,” she whispers conspiratorially to him.

He nods and winks at her, and as he catches sight of Callie’s hair coming around the corner, he sends Max to stall and finds someone to take their things to the counter until they’re done.

“Max, I told you no toys today, not until you go through the ones at home you don’t use.”

“Fine,” Max chirps glancing back to Jumin.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Jumin asks.

“No,” she shrugs.  “I don’t know what I was looking for to be honest.”

“I suppose I should pay then?” Jumin smiles and her eyes narrow.

“And then the park?” Max asks.

“Yep,” they say together.

The girls wait by the doors.  Callie appreciates that Jumin seems to enjoy buying things for Max but she has an aversion to seeing the number on the register increase. 

“Don’t think I don’t know that that is too many bags for what my daughter picked out.”

“I swear on my life,” he smiles at her, “that your daughter personally picked every item in these bags.”

“Mmhmm,” she nods unconvinced.

Jumin is relieved that there are not many people at the park.  He found the chaos of the play structures overwhelming at times.  Today it seemed that most of the children were elsewhere, only two or three were playing on the big plastic structure that Max took off running towards.  Callie had walked to the picnic table with him taking off her boots and tucking them under the seat.

He watches her run to catch up, and then chase Max up the slide.  They play together for a while before Max seems to strike up with one of the other children.  He watches Callie talk to Max and her new friend from the Monkey bars, he watches her ‘skin the cat’ then back again.  The girls laugh when the floppy collar of her shirt falls on her face and she stops upside down to pretend to fight with it.

He doesn’t notice the man walk up to him until he’s leaning against the table.

“Kind of overdressed for a playground,” the man says in broken Korean

“Am I?” Jumin answers in English.  He looks at the man beside him, a wide shouldered American in a hoody with the word ARMY across the chest and a ball cap.  There was something familiar about him and Jumin tries to remember where they’d met.  Normally he had no problem but this man’s name was escaping him.

“She traded up I guess?” He grunts.  “Kid probably couldn’t afford her.”

“I’m sorry?” Jumin turns to the man as it hits him.  _This is Max’s father_.

“She always did like to spend other people’s money.”

“T,” she says sharply, suddenly beside him. “What are you doing here?  What did you say to Mr. Han?”

“Nothing he doesn’t know.”

Jumin glances back to the play structure where Max is scaling the rope bridge. The way she says his name, formally as if this is just business, he can’t stand it.

“Toby I know you’re leaving soon please try to be an adult about this for once in your life.”

“When you get to act like a petulant teenager.”

“When, T?  When do I get to act like a petulant teenager? When do I have time for that?”

“You spend all day playing video games and singing to yourself.”

“Doing my job, that’s my job T.  Remember when your child support payments were lowered because I have a job?”

“You couldn’t have gotten a job when we were married though, right Amy?”

“At what studio, Toby, we were in the middle of nowhere, I got a job when we split because I moved where the work was, and _my job_ sent me here.”

“Lucky break you got there with this rich idiot footing your bills, Amy.”

“Holy shit T, Jumin is my _friend_ but he’s also my fucking Boss.”

“Friend huh, is that what you tell that kid you live with?”

“Are you done?”

“I’m sorry I’m not sure what you’re implying,” Jumin says. “Amelia is paid a fair wage for an above board job, which she appears to excel at.”

“Yeah, you pay Amy for some kinda job,” he grunts.  “I got plenty of pictures Amy.”

“I fucking knew it.”

Both men look at her.

“Of course you have pictures, I knew that chick was following me.”

“Oh sure,” Toby rolls his eyes.

“T tell your PI  that she’d be less conspicuous if she didn’t act like the entire world was a film noir.”

“Who fucking cares she says she’s got all I need.”

Jumin watches two of the three kids leave the play structure with their mothers.  Amelia and her ex-husband speak in low voices but at the rate the conversation is deteriorating he’s not sure they won’t be yelling at one another very shortly.

“What do you need?  What do you think she has?  Pictures of Jumin and I eating together, or at work functions?  Pictures of Luciel and I getting groceries, of Max with me and my friends, healthy, happy and cared for?  Are you trying to build a case to take her back with you?  You’ve got shit.”

He folds his arms in front of his chest and gives her a look that would have normally had her bending over backwards to make amends but she’s sick of this. 

“Our daughter is not a pawn in some game you’re playing,” she practically spits at him.

“Take your own advice.”

“I’m not going to defend myself.  I’ve never said a negative thing to her about you, I’ve excused your absences, I’ve defended you when she’s upset about the way you talk about my friends and myself.” She throws her hands up.  “T, if you feel like you need to put Max through this again I can’t stop you.  If that’s the route you wanna take?  But honestly you know who that is over there, and my fiancé, the guy you keep calling kid isn’t far behind him? They fucking love Max, as much as I do.  If you think Luciel or Jumin are going to just let me fight you alone or let you take her you’ve lost your mind.”

“Are you threatening me.”

“Do I look like I am?  Listen you can get your military appointed attorney and have them contact me, Jumin has already offered to have his lawyers go over our agreement.  Or you can go over there and plan something with your daughter before your exercise is over.”

She watches her ex-husband stomp towards the play structure and looks around for Jumin.  It’s not until Max jumps into her father’s arms that Callie see’s Jumin stand up from inside the big plastic submarine.  She holds her breath, when had he walked away?  When had the other children left?  Had Max heard them arguing.

She watches Max take a few steps away from Toby and glance at Jumin. Jumin shrugs and smiles and she steps back towards her Dad.  Callie watches Jumin standing with Max and she wants to go over.  Stand with him, lean on him, bury her face in his neck but she can’t.  Not just because they’re in public but because her heart is pounding and she’s trying to catch her breath.

She watches Max’s smiling face and inhales shallow through her nose.  Toby leans down and hugs Max and Callie exhales the breath she was holding.  She wants to sit under the table, the world feels too big suddenly, but Toby is walking away and Max is barreling full force towards her.  She takes a few more shallow breaths and braces for impact.

Jumin makes eye contact with her as he walks towards them and Max chatters excitedly about all the things she’d going to do at her Dad’s.  Max’s excitement overflows during the drive home, a whole week with her Dad, she can’t wait.  She makes lists of things to pack, and Callie does her best to keep breathing until finally they’re home and Max has disappeared into her room to pack.

Callie drops to the couch and slides onto the floor in the tight space between the couch and the table.  She throws her hands over her head and buries her face in her knees.  Jumin listens to her take ragged gasping breaths.

“Are you ok?”

She shakes her head no.

“Can I do something?”

Another no.

He reaches out for her and stops, she may not want to be touched and he doesn’t want to make this worse.  He looks towards Max’s room but she doesn’t appear to be coming out anytime soon.  He sits on the couch near her and after a moment she moves closer to him, and soon enough her face is buried in his neck her arms are at her sides and he holds her as tight as he can.

Eventually the gasping breaths turn shallow and then deep.  Jumin pulls her into his lap and runs his fingers through her hair until quite suddenly, red eyed and wet faced she stands up.

“You want a drink? I’m getting a drink, would you like something.”

“Are you ok?” He asks again.

She waves him off. “Wine?  Tea?  A bathtub full of bourbon?”

“Would you like to talk about it.”

Her eyes narrow and then she turns towards Max’s room.  “Not right now.”

As if on cue the wild haired 8 year old bursts out of her room, three backpacks hanging off of her. “Mr. Han we forgot something!”

“You’re right,” Jumin smiles remembering the bags in the trunk of his car.  He extends a finger towards Max and texts Driver Kim to be sure he is still outside. 

The co-conspirators leave Callie alone for a moment while they gather the bags from their shopping trip.  When they come back in she’s sitting at the kitchen table behind a glass of wine, she’s pale but she looks better.

Max shoves a wrapped box onto the table in front of her and almost knocks her glass over.  Callie looks at Jumin and he shrugs.

“Mr. Han let me pick out an outfit for you!” She smiles.

Callie frowns at Jumin. “Did you just use my daughter as a loophole.”

“I saw an opportunity and I seized it.”

She opens the box and coos over its contents.  Max beams and it seems that all is well.  Max disappears into her room to finish packing.

“I should call a taxi and take her to her Dad’s.”

“Amelia I can have Driver Kim take you.”

“No,” she sighs.

“Will you be _alright_ , would you like me to come.”

She snorts. “Yeah, but no.  I don’t know. No.”

They don’t speak for a while.  Callie tries on the jacket and the boots as something to do, to avoid talking about it and then looks back at Jumin who doesn’t appear to have moved.

“Would it be wrong to just say goodbye to her here and have Driver Kim take her to her father’s?”

“You have done that before.”

“It’s stupid and malicious, and maybe I _am_ just a petulant teenager.”

“I could accompany her and then come back here.”

“Wouldn’t that just be fucking perfect.”

“Is he going to be a problem?”

She takes a deep breath and opens her mouth as if she’s about to speak, but then she shrugs and breaths out.  “I don’t know.  He talks big and he did hire someone to stalk me but there’s no way she has any photo’s that are even a little worrisome, it’s not like anyone can get past the gate without me or a Choi twin and there’s a zero percent chance she got close enough to the penthouse to get anything even remotely useful for him.  He could make me travel back to the states more than I can afford to while trying to do my job, but I don’t think he really has a chance unless he plans to retire but even then,” she shrugs.  “He’s probably just trying to scare me; I don’t usually take the bait.”

“You’re human,” Jumin takes her hand.  “It was very difficult not to step in.  I did not want to escalate the situation.”

“Jesus no Jumin, I appreciate you keeping Max away from that.  I lost control, it’s not fair for me to do that in front of her or you, _thanks_.”

“It wasn’t fair for your ex-husband to provoke you,” Jumin adds.  “You’ll do better next time.”

“Next time?”

“We’ll drop Max off together,” Jumin smiles, “and if he attempts to provoke you again I will give him my attorney’s card.”

She hadn’t really wanted to leave the bunker, but he’d convinced her.  He was not normally given to haranguing her into doing anything but he had never seen her as shaken as she’d been when they’d gotten back from the park.  He’d considered leaving it and _suggesting_ Assistant Kang invite herself over, but he knew that both women would have something to say about that.

After they’d dropped Max off at her father’s without incident she’d sat as far from him in the car as she could and he worried that he’d crossed a line somewhere.  He watched her reflection in the window, she looked tired and pale.  He considered contacting his doctor when they got to the penthouse when he heard her sniff.

He sat very still in his seat and watched her wipe away a tear with her thumb.  He had never seen her cry until today, he’d not seen her emotions get the better of her.  Even after everything she’d been through with Mint Eye she’d only raised her voice once.  He’d considered comforting her but it was not something he was particularly skilled with.  Perhaps he should contact Saeyoung, he always seemed capable of making her smile. 

She rests her head against the glass and he makes eye contact with her reflection.

“Hey,” she smiles at him weakly.

“Amelia,” he starts but she looks away.

“Can you not call me that tonight?”

“I’m sorry,” Jumin says.

“No it’s just every time you say Amelia I hear him calling me Amy and I just,” she exhales, “I can’t.”  She doesn’t look at him but she reaches out and brushes her fingers over his before squeezing his hand.

He squeezes back.  “Calliope,” he starts and she looks at him, a small genuine smile forming on her lips.  “If you really would rather not come with me that is alright.”

“No you’re right,” she twists her mouth and frowns.  “I’m probably better off not being alone for now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skin the Cat is when you hold the bar and flip forward and then back


	16. Admissions 5

Having Callie at his penthouse had been strange.  He did not believe in living together before marriage but he could see the appeal of coming home to someone simply existing in your space.  Not that she really blended in.

She was a mess of person when left to her own devices, and while she left in the morning dressed with a well coifed wig to shoot promos for the next convention she was always a dishevelled pile of hair and sweatpants by the time he got home, a trail of bobby pins and clothing leading to whichever seat she’d let herself fall into.

Of course he didn’t mind.  One could not spend much time with Callie and expect her to meet him at the door in a cocktail dress with a glass of wine.  He was happy enough to see her laying on the sofa with her feet thrown over the back and Elizabeth III sleeping on her chest with music playing a little too loudly.

Tonight however she wasn’t anywhere when he walked in.  Elizabeth meowed at him from her spot in his chair and he frowned.  He was already changed out of his jacket and tie by the time he heard the door swing open.  She practically threw herself over the threshold, arms laden with bags.

“Driver Kim should have helped you with those or someone in security,” he frowned.

She laughed. “Ok but I walked and before you start making phone calls I wouldn’t let them.  It’s fine you should have seen me walking home from the Grocery store when Max was a baby.”

“You could have had someone do the shopping for you.”

“I didn’t want to, I _like_ grocery shopping, and besides I didn’t really plan this I was just walking home and thought I’d wander through and got a little carried away.”

Jumin laughs.

“So now I’m going to cook for you, it’s going to be very American and probably very _common_ and you’re going to love it.”

He frowns.  “I’m sure my chef can make whatever you’ve planned and you can relax.”

“Jumin,” she says, in a tone that implies there will be no further discussion.  “I _like_ cooking, and while I’m sure your chef could make this it wouldn’t be _my_ recipe.”

He frowns; he hadn’t considered that cooking might be something she enjoys.  Cooking was a thing you did so you could eat, or to make someone happy.  He’d thought she was trying to please him and he’d only meant to give her a break.

She throws her Jacket over the sofa and starts pulling the pins out of her wig on her way through the penthouse. He continues to stand where he was, he considers looking into the bags but he wonders if perhaps she wanted to surprise him. 

She smiles coming out of the hallway, her hair is still pulled back the way she wears it under her wig cap and she’s changed into one of Luciel’s t-shirts.

“At ease soldier,” she laughs when she notices he hasn’t moved.  She opens her mouth to say something else but his phone rings.

“Assistant Kang,” he says answering.

“Tell Jaehee I said, Hello.”

He paces in front of the window watching the city slowly light up as dusk settles.  Callie already has everything out of the grocery bags and sorted into piles by the time he’s finished, the bags are stuffed inside one another and hanging off a drawer pull.  She’s digging through his cupboards for cookware when he leans against the counter.

“I’m about to be really angry that you have these beautiful pots and never use them,” she says from somewhere inside the cupboard.  “It’s like fucking Narnia in here.”

“Can I help you with something?” 

A cheese grater slams onto the counter above her.  “There are about 4 blocks of cheese I’m going to need grated.”

Jumin rolls up the sleeves of his shirt, grabs an apron and sets to work.  As she said there were 4 blocks of American cheese sitting on the counter with a brick of butter and a container of heavy cream.  Callie emerges from the counter shortly after with a stack of cookware that she sets on the stove.  She puts water on to boil and turns back to him with a knife and cutting board.

“Look at this,” she exclaims.  “Look how fine this point is, you could probably shave with it.  You’re cupboards are ridiculous.”

“What are you making us?” He asks.  “Or is it supposed to be a surprise.”

She laughs.  “Mac and Cheese,” she gestures to the pile of cheese he’s grating, “and I’m going to glaze some ham.”

“That doesn’t exactly sound balanced.”

“It’s comfort food, Jumin, you’re guaranteed to gain at least 5 pounds or I haven’t cooked it properly.”

She sets to work chopping broccoli, onions and pork belly.  He finishes with the cheese and watches her work, he wants to ask her if there’s something else he can do to help but she seems to switch between tasks effortlessly. 

He watches her float between stirring pasta into the boiling water and finishing with her vegetables, she heats up a pan and sweeps the pork belly into it and then she seems to crush and chop garlic with one hand while she stirs the pans on the stove with the other.

“Can I do something?” He asks again.  It seems strange just to watch her.

“Could you put on some music?” She asks looking up from the stove.  “It’s too quiet.”

Too quiet meant something different to Callie than it did to him he’d learned.  He slides her phone out of her pocket and picks the playlist that he knows she listens to most and she leans back to place a kiss on his cheek when he slips her phone back into her pocket.

“Thanks.”

Jumin leans against the counter again and watches her tend to each of the pots in turn, stirring vegetables into the pan, straining the pasta, and setting it aside.  She’s removing the pork and vegetables from their pan and explaining to him about rendering the fat for a roux when there’s a knock on the door. 

He’s made it halfway to the door when his father swings it open. His eyes immediately settle on Callie, “You didn’t tell me you had company, Jumin.”

“I didn’t know you’d be stopping by,” Jumin says.

“Hello, Mr. Han,” Callie calls from the kitchen.  A sweet smile and a wave to his father, flour raining from her hands.

“Good evening Ms. Miller, it’s lovely to see someone taking care of my son.”

She almost frowns then but her smile widens. “I don’t know how you managed Mr. Han, he certainly doesn’t make it easy.”

Jumin’s father laughs and Jumin frowns.

“I’m sure I’m making way too much if you’d like to join us.”

Mr. Han waves her off.  “Another time perhaps, I only have a moment and then I have to meet a friend for dinner, though I’m not sure anything we will order will live up to how good that smells.”

Callie laughs.

“I supposed you’re here for the files I brought home,” Jumin says gesturing for his father to follow him.

“You didn’t tell me that you and Ms. Miller were so close, Jumin.”

“Assistant Kang seems to agree with you about the bakery, though I’d wager that her opinion is more informed than yours.”

“Are you and Ms. Miller very serious, Jumin?”

“I’ve outlined a proposal to purchase the franchise while letting them remain largely autonomous, they do not appear to need our help maintaining profits.”

His father puts a hand on his shoulder. “Jumin.”

“I am, not comfortable answering your questions.”

Mr Han laughs.  “We’ve all been there son, complicated.”

Callie smiles at them from the kitchen and the men watch her slide the pans into the oven and then, sweating, grease splattered and peppered with flour she starts to pick up the mess in the kitchen.

“She’s kind of a mess isn’t she,” Mr. Han smiles at his son.

Jumin doesn’t answer, but he smiles and walks his father to the door.

“It was lovely seeing you again Ms. Miller, perhaps you can cook for me some other time.”

Callie laughs and smiles.  “Any time Mr. Han.  Nice seeing you too.”

The door closes and Jumin joins her in the kitchen.  He takes her chin in his hands and uses his apron to wipe the flour and sweat off of her face, she rolls her eyes.

“Careful Jumin, your father might just try to steal me away.”

“Should I be concerned?”

“Not ever,” she laughs and kisses him on the nose.

 


	17. Admissions 6

“Hey Jumin,” she calls from the guest room. When he doesn’t answer she goes to find him.  He’s dozing in his chair with Elizabeth on his lap.  “Hey,” she says softly nudging his foot with hers. 

He blinks a few times and smiles up at her in that sleepy way that makes her heart swell and she wonders if maybe she can’t stay just a few more days. “I’m sorry were you speaking to me?”

She takes his hand and places something into it.  “Was there something you wanted to tell me?”

It feels like jewelry in his hand and he worries for a moment that he did hide something in there for her and forget about it, he worries that she may be angry from the tone in her voice but he looks up at her again and she’s smiling.

“It looked like a locket,” she shrugs.  “No big deal I just thought whoever it belonged to might want it back.  There were a few other pieces of jewelry in the nightstand drawer.”

Jumin opens his hand, it had been a long time but it was not out of the question, He smiles at her, not sure what he’s going to see in his hand, perhaps this is a joke and it’s something of hers she wants to leave with him.  It was definitely not what he was expecting. “Oh.”

“Are you alright?” Callie asks when his face pales, he almost drops the locket and she kneels in front of him.  “Bad break up?”

He takes a moment to catch his breath and she reaches out to touch his face.  She gathers the locket up from him.

“I didn’t open it,” she says softly, not sure what he needs to hear.

“It’s alright,” he says wetting his lips.  His mouth is suddenly very dry. 

“There’s a very nice crucifix and a couple little rings in the drawer.  Do you want me to do something with them?”

“Give them to Yoosung.”  He stands very suddenly and brushes past her. “I’m sorry, I need,” he turns and walks back to her taking her hand and kissing it.  “I’m sorry I need to go out, will you come here when you finish your work or will you be going home?”

“I was going to pick Max up and go straight home,” she says not letting go of his hand. “Unless you need for me to come back.”

He stares at her for a moment and she reaches up to touch his face again.  He looks so profoundly sad in this moment and it worries her, but he covers her hand with his and kisses the tip of her thumb and smiles at her. “I will call you later.”

He was gone then, he’d had no meetings, no reason to go into the office and if she remembered correctly he’d even given Jaehee a day off, though Callie suspects she would probably simply work from home.  The tournament she was covering would end by two and they’d planned to meet for something to eat before she picked Max up.  It was early morning, she wondered where he would go.

She finished packing her things and set them near the door, she looked over the small pile, nothing she couldn’t live with for a day if Jumin forgot to have them sent home.  She could justify carrying her makeup tote and laptop bag with her to the tournament and storing them with their equipment but not the rest of it.

She reaches into her pocket to make sure she has her wallet and keys, and feels the locket.  She slips it out and stares at it. It’s a simple gold locket, with delicate sunburst filigree.  She turns it over and reads the inscription _my sun_.  A chill runs down her spine and she opens it.

Of course he would want to give this to Yoosung.  Inside the locket is a picture of Rika, smiling with bright caring eyes hugging a puppy, the opposite side held a picture of V and Yoosung, smiling and awkward with the same puppy held between them.

She gathers up the rest of the Jewelry and tucks them inside one of her smaller makeup bags and sticks it back in her tote.

Her tournament coverage is uneventful.  The commenter was colourful enough that she mostly had to shoot minor translations for their English audience and do pre and post interviews.  It had been a long day of standing around.  Jumin texts her throughout the day to apologize, he sends her some slightly out of focus pictures of the city from somewhere high above.

Yoosung is in the chat when she finishes up with her crew and she remembers the jewelry in her tote.  He complains to Zen about having a late class and being stuck in the library and she smiles to herself, Sky University isn’t far, she could walk there before his class.

The campus is bigger than she expects and she has to ask someone where to find the Library.  But once inside she has no idea where to look for Yoosung.  She gives up on surprising him and takes a selfie in the middle of the first floor, the Librarian frowns at her and she shrugs in return.

She opens the RFA app and then Yoosung and Zen’s chat.  She posts the picture _this place is a fucking maze_.

She’s almost positive she can hear Yoosung gasp somewhere nearby. _You’re here?! Stay right there._

It’s at that point she realizes she’s still in her Callie Cannibal wig.  A few students stare at her as they walk past, a few more start to walk towards her, and then barreling past them is Yoosung.  He practically skids to a stop in front of her and the frowning Librarian points at the door. 

She takes him by the hand and leads him out apologising to the librarian.  They’re followed by three more students.

“Have you eaten?” she asks.  “How much time before your class?”

The students stand awkwardly to their left just staring.

“What, I guess I ate at lunch.”

Callie nods to the group which has increased by two. “Is this your fan club?”

Yoosung looks towards them and one girl takes a few steps forward.  “Is that your _Mom?_ ” She whispers.  “Or your sister?”

Yoosung blushes and Callie tries not to frown, it had been a long day, how old _did_ she look.

“That’s Callie Cannibal,” the other girl whispers harshly.

“I know,” says the first girl.  “But why is she here with _him_?”

“She’s just my _friend_ ,” Yoosung says frantically making shooing motions at the small crowd that gathered.

“Do you have time for a cup of coffee before your class?  I was supposed to get a late lunch with Jumin but _something came up_ , so I’ve got some time to kill before I pick Max up.”

He nods.

“Lead the way,” she smiles at him.

“Do you always carry so much with you when you shoot?” He asks.

“No,” she admits.  “I mean not for these local tournaments but I’m not sure if Jumin will get my things to me tomorrow or tonight since he’s _busy_ now.”

“Why does Jumin have your _things?_ ” Yoosung asks, head cocked like a puppy.

“Oh,” _shit,_ she stammers for a minute and he leads her into a little chain coffee shop. “I’ve been staying in his guest room,” she settles on a version of the truth.  “The bunker can be kind of _unsettling_ when you’re alone, you know?”

“I guess it would be,” he shrugs.

Yoosung orders for both of them, he seems to know the barista, she assumes from the coffee club by the way they seem to reverently talk about the coffee’s he’s ordered.  People pass by and every once in a while someone lingers and stares.

“Did you really stop by because you were nearby?” Yoosung asks.

“Sort of,” she says and fiddles with her make-up tote.

“Really?”

She finds the little bag she’s put the Jewelry into and hands it to him. He watches her, head cocked like a puppy and frowns at the bag.

“I’m not sure I need this?” The way he says it like a question makes her laugh.

“No it’s not make up,” she says softly.  “When I was packing I found some things in Jumin’s guest room.”

He frowns at her and holds the bag a little tighter.

“I guess they were Rika’s, he asked me to give them to you.”

He doesn’t open the bag but he holds it closer to his chest and looks at her with his big bright eyes, she’s worried he might cry.  She’s not sure how she’s going to explain everyone she knows having some kind of episode today.

“Thank you,” he says softly.

Callie continues to drink her coffee.  She smiles at him not really knowing what to say.  She’s struck by just how young he seems in this moment.  Compared to Hyun and Saeyoung he had a relatively sheltered life, thinking Rika had died was the first really bad thing he’d experienced and it was easy to forget he was only a year younger than Luciel.

“Have you heard from Alaska at all?” She asks when she can’t take the silence any longer.

“I get updates sometimes,” he says.  His eyes are moist and he sniffles a little.

“How is she?”

“It sounds like she’s happy,” he shrugs.  “But the same.”

“Well that’s not bad.”

He smiles at her.  “I guess. They say she paints the sun over and over.”

“Yoosung,” she says and his eyes narrow at her tone.  “I don’t have any platitudes for you. I don’t, I don’t want to hurt you or upset you but I need to know that _you_ know this might be the only Rika there is.”

“I know,” he says softly.

“I know that sucks for you.”

“My Rika is dead,” he says suddenly. “And even if she weren’t the things she did as Savior would destroy her.”

“I didn’t mean, Yoosung,” that’s it, she tried to help and now she’d fucked up again.  Two down, what would she say to Saeyoung on the phone tonight to ruin his day.

“No,” he says softly again. “No,” he smiles.  “It’s ok.  Everyone else is so careful not to talk about her, and I don’t want to worry my Mom.  I appreciate that you were concerned.”

“Shit did I just adopt you?  Was that girl right, am I your Mom now?”

“I hope not,” Yoosung laughs.

“Well that’s good because I make fucking horrible Kimchi.”


	18. Admissions 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I guess warning for emotional abuse mentions.

Max had invited Jumin to the bunker for supper, and later, long after Max had gone to sleep Callie had invited Jumin to their bed.  He’d been surprised when Jumin leapt at the offer, but he considered that surprise had always been the theme of their relationship.

He’d been surprised by the different way Jumin approached him now that this had become familiar, and surprised at the way he responded; surprised at the way they fit together now, no longer awkward and learning.  They spoke for the sake of it, no longer needing the instruction but reveling in the tone of one another.

He was still surprised now.  The three of them lay naked in his bed in the darkest hours of the morning.   He listens to their breathing over the soft music Jumin had put on for them, he relaxes into the feeling of Callies chest rising and falling against him as her breath steadies. He can feel the bed shift as Jumin reaches for his phone and he thinks he’ll turn off the music, leave them now to sleep in his own bed the way he always does.

The song changes and he recognises it, he’s heard something like it before, childish and sweet.

“Tchaikovsky,” she whispers, and he feels her smile into his chest, her fingers tapping purposely with the piano along his side. He thinks about arguing, no he’s heard this somewhere, not classical, maybe a cartoon, the words almost come to him.

The bed shifts again and he can feel Jumin curl around them, his head resting in the curve of her back.

“Who were you before?” Jumin says dreamily.

It seems rhetorical to Saeyoung, a passing thought he probably didn’t mean to say out loud but the soft play of Callie’s fingers on his ribs stops abruptly.

He considers the implications, aware that something had happened with Max’s father while he’d been away that neither of them would go into detail about.

There was so much about Callie he didn’t really know, things he didn’t ask for fear of prying, there were tips of icebergs in her personality that he glimpsed, things that Jumin knew that he simply never had the chance to see.

She played piano, he knew, yet he’d never seen it.  Jumin will mention in passing how lovely she played at his father’s or had she considered this bigwig or that’s proposal to play at something he’d never be invited to. She always seemed to stiffen, never to commit.

He likes her with a guitar, or the easy way she plays her Ukulele. He likes playing her sound tech for C&R luncheons. But as they lay here he wonders how she would look sat behind a piano playing something like this.  Jumin was oblivious on occasion but certainly he wouldn’t encourage her to play for these people if she seemed as uncomfortable while playing as she did when he talked about her playing.

His thoughts mirrored Jumin’s question as they lay in silence.

“Before _what_?’ She asks, and the catch in her throat doesn’t escape him.

Everything is so quiet that Saeyoung thinks Jumin has fallen asleep, perhaps the question had been the final thought before his decent to dreams.  But then he feels Jumin’s hand slip between them to rest on her stomach, against his hip.

“You must have had so much potential as a performer,” he says softly.  “You could still be _something_ , yet you restrict yourself.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she says softly, the same catch in her throat.

“I wonder who you were before him,” Jumin says, all softness gone from his voice and Saeyoung can feel the way his fingers seem to tighten on her at the thought of her ex-husband.

She presses her face farther into Saeyoung’s chest and he wonders if she thinks she can melt inside him to escape this conversation.  He should stop Jumin, he thinks, but it’s so rare that she talks about herself, about what happened.

“I am an overflowing vessel of potential,” she whispers.  “I lack focus,” she says sharper.  “I was wasting my time.”  He can feel the tears spill over her eyes.

They lay there for a moment before she pushes herself up and out from between them.  He sits up, but Jumin simply lays back his hands behind his head watching her dress, she turns on the lamp and looks at them then, tears falling slowly though nothing in her expression would lend itself to crying. 

He thinks she might leave, she hovers at the door, and her eyes narrow on Jumin before she turns and sits on the edge of the bed, her back to them.

“It was a hobby,” she says.  “Music, I was good at it, I’m moderately good at a lot of things. My parents indulged me, especially after Celia went back to the states, Wyatt was good in school, academic clubs weren’t costly so I got acting classes on Monday, piano on Wednesday.  Piano lead to dance on Thursday, and dance lead me to violin on Tuesday; acting lead to singing on Saturdays, and singing lead to guitar on Friday.  I did local theater.  Nothing like Zen, as much as I loved it I never had his drive, his focus.  All of my instructors said the same thing, _potential_ , I just had to choose something.”

“Would you like private instruction,” Jumin asks. 

She frowns at him over her shoulder.

“I won’t patronize you, you seem aware of your short comings, however you do play beautifully, if a little stiff, when the sheet music is provided, I’ve noticed you at the end of an indulgent evening play things you know by heart so passionately I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t want to forever.”

Saeyoung watches her drop her head into her hands.

“Why didn’t you choose?” He finds himself asking.

She lays back, arms thrown over head, resigned to relive whatever it is Jumin is hunting for.

“I just _couldn’t_ , I loved it all, and I loved being able to say I could do it, if I choose Piano or dance or theater and abandoned everything else who would I be?  I guess it was pride.  And one by one the instructors who lauded my potential gave up on me, I didn’t have enough time, I was stretched too thin to fit into their practice schedules, I wasn’t interested in competition, I just wanted to perform.

I wanted to do what I wanted to do, but,” She sighs.  “None of it pays the bills, and Mom had basically turned Celia’s old room into my music room.  Wyatt had a wall of academic awards in the living room and I had a room full of instruments with participation ribbons.  A wall of worn dance shoes and playbills that mostly listed me in the chorus line.”

He pulls her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her and she lets her head fall back against him.  Jumin props himself up on his elbow and watches them.

“You still enjoyed performing though.”

“Of course, but then Mom and Dad got posted _home_ and I wanted to stay, to go to school here with my friends, so I took something I thought would be a practical application of my interests.  Resigned myself to playing as a hobbyist, I was my own biggest fan after all.  Being behind the scenes felt like the smart choice.  I had a tiny studio apartment and instruments whose cases doubled as furniture.”

“What changed,” Saeyoung asks cautiously.

“I met T.  I was still in school and he had known Celia, I guess stateside.  He was with her friends one night at the restaurant I worked at; I let them stay after we closed up.  One of my sister’s friends recognised me and goaded me into playing something on the dinky piano they kept as decoration.  I think she thought she was showing off for T, but he’d been joking with me all night about video games so I showed off, I played a theme from a game he’d mentioned.

We started hanging out, then he started staying over a lot, and then it seemed silly for him to pay for the shacks when he was never there.  I sold my violin, he said I never played it.  Then we moved into a bigger apartment and I came home from school to find he’d thrown out the box of dance shoes and playbills.  He apologized, he’d thought they were just garbage, he was just trying to do something nice.”

Saeyoung can see the way Jumin’s jaw sets, mirroring the way his own hands clench.

“That happened a few more times, this or that is just taking up space, I never play anymore, until there I was selling something I loved because it seemed like the responsible thing to do.  Then when I was pregnant with Max, and I came home from work and my piano was gone.  The piano I’d bought myself when I was 15, the piano I’d saved for 2 years to buy.  The used piano my Dad had helped me restore.  It had been a dining table, a computer desk, and so many things, much more than an instrument I didn’t have time to play anymore.  And he was smiling when he handed me 100$.”

Jumin is sitting up, he’s next to them pulling her into his arms and Saeyoung lets her fall forward against him.  But it isn’t long before she rights herself and moves slightly out of their reach.  Hands folded in her lap, posture rigid, she looks down.

“He was so proud of his 100$, I never played, it just took up space, but 100$ for my Dad’s handmade bench, built for me, because I was the only person who would play this piano.  100$ for the stain I’d agonised for months over, for all the times I’d had it tuned, for the nights I’d spent with friends half drunk pumping out off tempo ragtime.  100$ and _look how big this room is_ for my dreams.”

“Do you kno—”

“Even if I knew who he’d sold it to, it was an old piano, it was only priceless to me, and that was 9 years ago.  It’s gone.  He got the bench back,” she shrugs.  “He thought that was the problem.  And for 6 years the bench sat in Max’s room, filled with sheet music I would play again when we had space for a piano. 6 years until I left and he threw it in a dumpster, because if I wanted it I wouldn’t have left it, the leg was falling off, and it was just full of old paper junk.”

He can see that Jumin wants to reach for her as badly as he does.  To hold her, comfort her.  Confirm that everything she said was as bad as she thought.  She can see it too and she holds up her hands in a stop motion.

“I don’t know who I was before him,” she sighs shaking her head.  “I could give you a list of people who would probably say Amy Miller was arrogant and self destructive.  But I was no one when I was with him, just T’s wife Amy who was never really enough.”

“It would have been nice to know you back then I think,” Jumin says.

She laughs. “I wouldn’t have liked you.  Jihyun however was exactly Amy Miller’s type.”

Saeyoung snorts.

“No, I like who I am now,” she smiles and takes their hands,” Callie Miller or Callie Cannibal, they’re both a version of her, she just needs a little more time.”


	19. Admissions 8

_Well_ , Jaehee thought, sitting on the steep staircase, _that was one way to do it._

Mr. Han had invited them to his families retreat, generally used for C&R team building events but empty for the weekend.  He’d wanted to discuss another party he’d said.  It had been a pain convincing everyone to go.  Yoosung complained about the signal, Zen complained about missing rehearsal, even Callie had complained that finding someone to watch Max would be difficult but in the end she’d managed to get everyone to agree.

Saeren stayed home with Max, as he seemed to prefer.  Callie, Luciel and Jumin had arrived together early, and she had silently chided them for their lack of subtlety until she saw Luciel’s fancy car parked next to Jumin’s Sedan.

“Mr. Han,” she frowns when she sees him sitting by the window in the sun.  “Where is Luciel?  I just saw Callie outside splitting wood.”

“She wanted to light a fire,” he shrugs, turning the page.  “I’m not certain where Saeyoung has gotten to.”

She makes her way upstairs and finds a room to put her bag, Luciel and Callie’s things are already spread across a set of twin beds in the first room and she suspects that Mr. Han has had his things taken to the larger room, she chooses a small room with a single bed near a washroom and goes back outside to help Callie.

That was how the first day had gone, mostly.  Her and Callie splitting wood to light a fire.  Her and Callie mixing pitchers of drinks in the kitchen. Her and Callie cooking for everyone.

“That guy,” Zen had cursed.  But he hadn’t helped them.

Jaehee did her best to keep up with Callie in the kitchen.  She was no slouch, though she had little time to cook since she’d been hired at C&R, but Callie moved fast.  Callie explained as she went what she was doing, sometimes a little too thoroughly, Jaehee considered as the older woman explained the basics of choosing and properly holding a sharp knife.

Jaehee wanted to appreciate it, she really did.  She even started to a few times, and then Yoosung had rushed by with hardly a hello, and Jumin had declared he was going for a walk.  Each time Callie simple looked up and smiled, or shouted something foolish after them.

“Hey Babe,” Callie smiled at her from the refrigerator, “is something wrong.”

“How are you not angry right now?”

“About what?”

Jaehee blushes and becomes very intent on stirring the pot in front of her.

“The heat is off,” Callie laughs.  “That’s done.”

“Ugh.”

“I’m fine here you know,” Callie says earnestly. 

Sometimes Jaehee forgets that Callie is older than her, especially by 5 years.  The way she seemed to fit so well with Luciel and the easy way she had with people, smiling and talking.  She was always so open in a way that appeared to be naive but rarely was.

“Doesn’t it make you angry,” she asks finally.

“What?” Callie says, surprised.

“You’ve been here longer than me, and you haven’t stopped all day.  Mr. Han insisted we all come here but he hasn’t lifted a finger, I haven’t even seen Luciel, and Yoosung and Zen barely said hello.  Look at everything we’ve been doing!”

Callie laughs.  “You can go relax Jaehee, don’t worry about it.”

“ _How?”_

“Jaehee,” she’s still laughing, “I think you feel obligated to help me do all the things I’ve done today, I’m sorry if I gave off that impression.”

“What?”

“We’re only here for a few days, it’s not even really cold.  I could have had Luciel stop for a few bundles of already split firewood, Jumin even suggested it but I don’t mind splitting wood, it reminds me of my Granddad.  I knew there was wood here that could be split,” she shrugs.

“Certainly you didn’t need to do all this cooking, Mr. Han could have hired someone.”

“He did,” she laughs again.  “I never get to cook for this many people anymore, I told him to cancel it and I brought my own groceries.  We’ve been cooking for the entire weekend so tomorrow and Sunday we just have to stick things in the oven until they’re hot.”

“Oh.”

“Didn’t you think this was a lot of food?”

Jaehee covers her face.  “I hadn’t even considered it.” 

Things turned around then and Jaehee found herself further endeared to Callie.  Callie who seemed to understand and smile and wonder at everything.

When Jumin came back from his walk he stood with them in the kitchen, leaning on the counter by Callie she wonders how they think the others won’t notice the way they stood so close to one another or the familiar way he reached to tuck her hair behind her ear when it fell in her face.  A relaxed familiarity she had never seen in the two of them.  But who was she to judge.

Callie had prepared a variety of meals for the weekend.  She’d put most of the food in the fridge but she’d left a significant portion of snacks on the Island in the big kitchen. She’d called it pub food.

“My parents would call this Happy Hour,” she shrugs when Jaehee asks.  “It’s just a lot of finger foods.”

Jumin was by the window on his phone with Elizabeth in his lap when Jaehee and Callie made their way to what Callie had dubbed the ‘Rec Room.’

“Can I get you a drink,” Callie asks and Jaehee watches her stop herself from touching his hair.

“That’s not necessary,” Jumin says without looking up.  “I will open a bottle of wine when I finish here.”

Callie shrugs and stretches out on the window seat.  She laughs and tells jokes until she’s finally laughing so hard at her own joke that she startles the cat.  True to his word Mr. Han does put his phone away and open a bottle of wine, he offers them both a glass and against her better judgment Jaehee accepts.

“None for me thanks,” Callie says shaking her own almost empty glass at him.

“Did you find my father’s scotch horde?” He asks his head slightly cocked in a way that almost makes Jaehee laugh.

Callie snorts. “Please tell me that is a thing that exists _.  Please_ I want to find it and I want to steal the most ridiculous bottle and then I want to offer it to him the next time I see him.”

“He would actually enjoy that I think,” Jaehee laughs.

“Mr. Chairman thinks I’m lovely,” Callie says, and manages to almost strike a profound figure if not for the fact that she was still sprawled across the window seat.

Jaehee is surprised to see Jumin tuck the bottle of whiskey Callie had been drinking from on the window sill next to her and then roll up his sleeves.  “I suppose you split this wood, _someone_ should light a fire.” The way Callie smiles at him over her shoulder almost makes Jaehee uncomfortable.  It seems like a private moment she’s intruding on.

By the time the fire is going properly Jaehee has watched Callie seemingly melt off the window seat to sit on the floor in front of it.  The missing members make their way downstairs.  Jaehee is surprised to see Luciel reheat the food on the bar in an uncharacteristically domestic moment while Zen and Yoosung mill about seemingly lost in the sea of room temperature snacks.

When the oven dings, Luciel puts everything back where it was, stirs the dips and puts a few things on a plate before he sits on the floor next to Callie.

She’s never seen the three of them together like this. It had always been Callie with Jumin or Callie with Luciel, even when they are all together and to her it seems in this moment it is the three of them.  
The Callie with Luciel was always quick with a joke, she was almost always laughing, and feeding into his bits.  She knew how to poke fun at the others without being hurtful and somehow managed to know exactly how to reign everyone in, and exactly where to draw the line when an evening was getting out of hand.

But the Callie that she saw with Jumin, the woman he’d called Amelia until recently, was a well placed smile and nod, never the cackling laughter she had with Seven, a chuckle, and a smile with a roll of her eyes, her reactions carefully considered and preformed.  She played to the crowd at C&R functions with well placed flirtations and cutting words.  She was a complimentary opposite of Mr.Han and Jaehee always found herself surprised at the caliber of clients who would casually ask about her.

Jumin had been more forgiving in the office since she’d started accompanying him to events and here he seemed even more relaxed.  Before Callie had joined them he had separated himself even at RFA functions, more so since V had told them Rika died, but here he moved from the high back chair he’d sat in most of the day to the window seat near Luciel and Callie.  Luciel teased Callie, trying to get her to eat from his plate while she insisted she’d been eating while she cooked, she wasn’t hungry, she could feed herself.

She watched Callie push Seven’s hand away again and point a finger at Zen. “Hyun, did you take an antihistamine?”

“I knew that stupid cat was here,” he sniffs.

“How dare!” Luciel gasps

Callie rolls her eyes.  “That’s why I put allergy pills on your pillow numb nuts.”

“There was chocolate on mine,” Yoosung chimes in.

“That’s where I left that,” Luciel stops with a fried shrimp poised just in front of Callie’s face.

Jaehee watches Mr. Han take the plate from Luciel’s hand and hold it out of the way as Callie throws herself at Luciel and starts pummeling him with throw pillows, she doesn’t miss the smile on Jumin’s face or the way he looks at them both when Callie puts the pillow back and brushes her hair out of her face.  Luciel holds out a hand and Jumin places the plate back on it.

She suspects this may be a frequent occurrence and she wonders just how much time they spend together, just the three of them.

The second day gets interesting.  It doesn’t escape Jaehee’s notice that the things on Luciel and Callie’s bed don’t appeared to have moved despite the fact that the two of them are already dressed and sitting with Mr. Han at the table when she comes down for breakfast.

“I had the strangest dream,” Yoosung says coming down the stairs.  “I must have been sleeping I thought I saw Seven coming out of Jumin’s room last night.”

Callie snorts. “Wow, weird.”

Breakfast is uneventful, Luciel teases Yoosung and Callie discusses numbers for her show with Jaehee and Mr. Han.  Zen saunters down the stairs closer to noon.

“Goodness Mr. Ryu, how late you’ve slept.”

Zen smiles, “I guess maybe it was a good idea to come here.”

Mr. Han smiles, but he manages not to make a snide comment. It’s not long before he stands and goes upstairs.  No one seems to notice, they continue to pick at the food on the table and joke around until Jumin comes down in running shorts and a tshirt.

It doesn’t escape Jaehee’s notice that Callie and Luciel are already wearing gym clothes.

“There’s something I’d like to try,” Mr. Han says, “We’ve done it at business retreats.”

Jaehee sighs, she knows exactly what he plans and she leaves the table to change before he even finishes.  She’s almost dressed when she hears Yoosung and Zen storm up the stairs. 

Jumin is waiting at the top of a set of steep stairs, they’re almost one on top of the other.  Jaehee has done the climb many times before usually finishing in the first group.

“Usually,” Jumin starts at the top of the stairs and the five of them have to crane their necks to see him, “this is a team building exercise, Ms. Kang and I have excelled at this activity many times.  However I thought perhaps we could make this a challenge.”

“What do we get if we win?” Zen calls out and Jaehee can see from his posture he’s already won in his head.  She frowns, he’s underestimating it.

“I will owe a favor to whoever makes it to me without stopping.”

She can see Yoosung wringing his hands. “What, uh, what if we can’t? Like what if we only make it part way?”

The stairs are narrow, only wide enough for two people, possibly a third to move between them, and Jumin looks thoughtfully down on them.

“Simply step off the stairs, the ground is solid, you can rest and complete the stairs or perhaps make your way back down.”

“So are we doing this?” Zen asks.

Luciel and Callie nod and she watches their fingers twine together.  Jumin nods and they start.  Zen pushes past everyone and starts jogging up the stairs with Yoosung not far behind, Callie and Luciel broach the stairs together, they don’t quite jog but as she comes up behind them she can hear them keeping time under their breath.

She brushes past them, taking the stairs two at a time and it’s not long before she passes Yoosung 1/3 of the way up slipping under the railing.

“I shouldn’t have looked down,” he says quietly as she passes.

Zen is only a few steps ahead of her, and she considers that she should be more aware of her pacing.  She glances back , Callie and Luciel have started taking two stairs at a time, she picks up her pace.  Maybe she can pass Zen, Jumin could give her a raise as her favor, or a vacation.

“This is a little disappointing,” Jumin calls down.  “I expect this from lazy business men the five of you claim to be in better shape.”

“I don’t,” Luciel yells back.

Zen pushes forward, he breaks into a run and Jaehee starts to jog.  Luciel and Callie start singing The Ants Go Marching.  That’s when they all hear it, Zen is ¾ of the way up leaning over a rail vomiting. 

“That’s too bad,” Jumin calls out.  Zen flips him off and ducks under the rail.

Callie and Luciel break into a run, she can see from Callie’s face that the only thing keeping her going is Luciel and his off key rendition of Eye of the Tiger. That’s when she slips, stumbles down a few stairs.  Luciel and Callie put their hands out to catch her and she curses under her breath, taking a knee on the steps and sitting once they’ve passed.

Despite her obvious exhaustion Callie still manages to flip Zen off while shouting “Turtle power mother fucker,” as she passes.

She can see where this is going and _that’s certainly one way to do it_.

Jumin reaches out a hand and pulls Callie up the last few steps towards him, she stumbles into his arms.  Jaehee can’t see Luciel’s face but she’d guess he was smiling as he seemed to almost dangle from Callie’s outstretched hand.  Her other arm is thrown around Mr. Han’s neck.

“Alright, show off!”  Zen shouts.

If not for the look on Mr. Han’s face she would have thought he did it to spite Zen, but the way he smiles down at Callie, the glance at Luciel, she’s not even sure he’s heard.  He gathers her up to him, still leaning over the steps and she finally drop’s Luciel’s hand to cling to him as he kisses her.

Jaehee doesn’t look to the others; she can’t tear her eyes away from them.  She can hear Yoosung gasp and Zen start to shout.  It’s not until Zen is pushing past her she remembers she is the only one on the stairs who knows.  She reaches for Zen and manages to get a hold of his shirt. 

He stops short, not because she has him but because above them Jumin has placed Callie next to him on her feet and reached out for Luciel.  Zen is waiting to see what Luciel does, she can see from his posture he’s ready to fight if Luciel decides.  Of course she already knows that won’t happen.

Luciel takes Jumin’s outstretched hand and pulls him forward.  She watches his eyes widen as he stumbles forward and Zen lurches forward noticing for the first time she’s holding his shirt.  She looks at Zen then as he turns and shouts for her to let him go and simply shakes her head.  By the time they look back Luciel has Jumin draped over his own arm.  He looks flustered and she can see that he’s blushing when Luciel kisses him. 

Zen sits down then.

Callie grabs Jumin by the back of his shirt and the three of them fall towards the top laughing.

“A little Dramatic don’t you think?”  Jaehee groans but Mr Han is _laying on the ground laughing_.

“What!?” Zen yells from his spot on the stairs. 

Yoosung is practically crawling up the stairs.

“A hand please,” Jumin asks holding his out to Jaehee, who helps him up.

Callie is still red faced and catching her breath but Luciel appears recovered as he stands and helps her up.

“What,” Zen says again.  He stands and follows Yoosung the last few steps.  “H-How does _that_ even happen.”

“Seven Zero Seven!  Defender of Justice!  God of Romance!” Luciel cheers.

“That’s not how it happened,” Callie and Jumin shake their heads.

“I think it’s kind of nice,” Yoosung says.

Jumin shakes his head and regains his composure.  “There is a pagoda just up here,” he says turning.  “We can sit outside and discuss the party before we go back down.”

“Ok but who gets the favor,” Luciel demands. “Because I think you helped Callie and that would be a forfeit.”

“What?” Zen says again exasperated.

“Don’t be a sore loser,” Callie says.”It’s my favor and I’m giving it to Jaehee because she is the best at keeping secrets.”

Everyone turns to Jaehee mouths agape, even Mr. Han.

“You already knew,” he asks.

She nods.

“You told her?” he asks Callie.

“Nah, my girl is wicked smart,” she throws and arm around Jaehee and Jumin frowns.

“I don’t understand why you didn’t say anything. How did you know?”

“It wasn’t my business Mr. Han,” Jaehee starts. “It’s only that you had me drop a ring off to be sized and then I saw Ms. Miller wearing the ring, I was concerned for Luciel.”

“My hero!” Luciel declares.  “She gets my favor.”

“Is this nepotism?” Yoosung asks.

Zen just throws his head back and screams.

“That seems excessive,” Luciel frowns.

“Not good for his voice,” Callie crinkles her nose.

Jumin walks towards the pagoda.

“So no one thinks that was weird?” Zen says when he’s done.

“Does it bother you?” Callie asks.

“He always bothers me,” Zen frowns.  “I just don’t get it.”

“No one is asking you to get it.”

They walk for a while and find the pagoda in a peaceful clearing with a lovely view of a stream.  Callie opts to sit on the ground leaning against one of the stone benches and Jumin takes the bench she leans against, Luciel leans against one of the supports near them. 

Jaehee watches Mr. Han lift a piece of Callie’s hair and then smooth it out, Luciel watches everyone else.  She sits across from them, and Yoosung sits next to her.  Zen paces.

“I have had many of my business contacts ask when we plan to have another party,” Jumin starts. “I have told them that we needed time after our loss but I think it has been long enough.”

“I know who you’re talking about,” Jaehee nods.  “I will approach them with Ms. Miller’s information on Monday.”

“We should consider the type of party we’d like to throw, Calliope and Luciel did not attend the last party and while we had a satisfactory attendance despite short notice the attendees were rather eclectic.” 

“I think considering this will be our first party without V,” Callie says thoughtfully, “that we should perhaps contact people who are familiar with and have frequently attended the past parties.”

“Well I guess you’re gonna miss another one,” Luciel laughs.

“Does anyone have any concerns.”

“Will we still hold an auction with V’s photos?” Yoosung asked.

“I have access to a few unreleased images I believe we can distribute without issue,” Jumin says. “However we should consider looking for more incentives in our auctions.  Widely distributed prints will not benefit us going forward.”

“We could source from local artists,” Callie suggests.  “Or there’s the scholarship in V’s name, we could purchase work from the students working on the scholarship and then auction them off in memory of V.”

“We shouldn’t need to purchase from these students,” Jumin says.

“But we will,” Callie reprimands him.  “Because they are artists regardless, and exposure does not pay your bills.”

“So we’re ignoring this then,” Zen barks.

“Are you having trouble Hyun?” Jumin asks.

“Am I— What?  You guys, you just.  How does it even work?”

“I have a video I cou—” Luciel starts

“No!” Callie and Yoosung shout.

Zen sits.  “I don’t mean,” he sighs. “It’s not that I’m not _happy_ for you, just, I don’t understand.”

Callie stands up and walks over to him.  Jaehee is concerned for a moment.  Callie can be cold to Zen at times.  But she sits next to him and takes his hand.

“You don’t have to understand,” she says.  “It’s just a thing that happened and we embraced it, it makes us happy.”

“This should go without saying,” Jumin adds, “that this is just between us.”

Everyone nods.

“So you guys, all together, you know?” Zen says into his hands.

Luciel laughs, Jumin blushes and looks away. “Not really your business, Hyun.” Callie drops his hand.

“This line of questioning makes me uncomfortable,” Jumin says.

Everyone makes noises of agreement.

“Do you think we could finish discussing the party now?” Jaehee asks.

They nail down a date, in a little over a month, and a location they’ve used many times in the past.  Callie suggests they do a memorial of sorts for V, Luciel is quiet, sullen while they discuss, and Jumin resists at first but Callie wins him over. When they finish Jaehee has a list of names and businesses to contact and Callie has decided that she will have all the donations to her stream go to the RFA Charity in the weeks leading up to the event. 

That night, even Luciel who almost never drinks has a glass of wine.  Zen teases him about spending too much time with Jumin and Callie sits down at the ancient piano and plays.

“Do you remember,” Jumin says looking out the window, “the night you danced with the Oil Prince?”

“I remember that he wants me to marry all of his sons.” She laughed not missing a note.

“Was this the song you danced to?”

“I don’t remember,” she says.  “The Oil Prince is kind of overwhelming.  I do remember that you saved me and he insisted we dance a Tango.”

All conversation stops.

“Jumin Han dances?” Zen scoffs.

“Of course,” Jumin scowls.

“Jumin can Tango, he can waltz, and he can swing,” Callie laughs.  “Maybe more he’s an enigma.”

“Calliope leaves out that she has managed to keep up with me, so she also has these skills.”

Zen and Yoosung put the meal Callie and Jaehee had prepared the day before in the oven, they tease Callie about their skills in the kitchen and she offers them both lessons when they almost burn it.  The meal is a hit regardless and Jaehee is more than a little proud to have _actually_ helped with it.

Luciel and Callie are in their own room when Jaehee makes her way to bed. Jumin is reading by the fire and Zen and Yoosung are cleaning up, or rather they’ve been saying that’s what they’re doing for an hour or more, having both drank a little more than they’d planned, they mostly seemed to be leaning on one another, and she suspected that Mr. Han was still downstairs more to keep an eye on them.

Sunday consisted largely of packing.  Yoosung complained that Zen looked better than he had any right to and ended up traveling with Luciel and Callie after Luciel covered the back of his car in trash bags _just in case_.  Mr. Han offered her and Zen a drive home in his Sedan, Driver Kim having spent the weekend apparently stashed in some quiet corner of the large cottage retreat.

Zen watches Jumin carefully for the entirety of the drive but never speaks.  She’s not sure how he is really handling the announcement and for her part she still can’t believe the dramatic way they chose to tell everyone.  After Zen has been dropped of Mr. Han gives her a long look.

“You have something you feel you need to say.”

“It seems that Saturday afternoon was uncharacteristically theatrical,” she says after careful consideration.

“I agree Ms. Kang.”

Jaehee frowns. “Then why?  Wouldn’t it have been easier to just tell everyone?”

He leans back in his seat and thinks for a moment.  “We couldn’t decide,” he says finally.  “The need to discuss the party came about first, it was not until Thursday evening we discussed telling everyone, and even then we were all apprehensive.”

“And the staircase?”

“Luciel’s idea, he thought that would leave it up to chance, Calliope agreed. I did not expect them to be so dramatic.”

The car is quiet for the rest of the drive to Jaehee’s apartment, she gathers her bag from the trunk and thanks Driver Kim.  Her phone vibrates as she enters the building but she doesn’t check it until she’s finally inside her own apartment.  A text message from Mr. Han that reads “As it stands Assistant Kang, I owe you two favors thanks to their theatrics.”

She could really use a day off, alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not exactly happy with this chapter, but I also felt it needed to be dealt with.


	20. Accidents and Recovery 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This whole chapter is basically a panic attack happening, so warning for that.

Yoosung sat in a corner of the waiting area.  He’d arrived with Zen both having managed to come out of the whole thing unscathed.  He sat in the hard plastic chairs and tried to focus on the static sounds of the waiting room, inhaling through is nose and counting to ten, exhaling through his mouth.  Zen paced, he didn’t even smile at the nurses who recognized him; he paced the waiting room, head down staring at his phone.

Then someone had come for them, ushered them somewhere, everything was swimming he couldn’t read the signs they passed it was just bright colours and with corresponding arrows on the floor.  Zen was talking, the person who’d come for them was talking but it was noise.

It had been chaos, they’d been drunk as much on the success of the party as anything else, laughing and joking, the formalities abandoned with the last guest.  Callie and Zen had broken into song in the rain instead of running for the Van and there had been a crack of thunder and...

He pictures her then, the way the rain had gotten instantly heavier; Jaehee, Zen and Saeren running for the Van but Callie has stopped, arms swung wide and looking up, her wig abandoned somewhere, her bleached white hair plastered to her face, she was laughing and turning slowly while Jumin and Seven urged her on.  He pictures the way she smiled when they said whatever they’d said to her, the way she’d thrown herself at Seven laughing.  Who had given her their coat?

They end their journey in another waiting room.  Jaehee rushing towards them with a purple bruise blooming on her forehead.  She looks them over and says something Yoosung can’t hear through the static.  He tries to focus, she’s talking to him, trying to tell him something but he just walks past her.  He can’t hear her, can’t make his mouth work to apologise.

Saeren is sitting with his head down and Yoosung tries to remember, he’d been bleeding when the emergency vehicles arrived, he looks ok now though.

Yoosung inhales though his nose and counts to ten, he exhales through his mouth, the static recedes.  Jaehee is talking quietly, maybe to herself, he’s not sure, and Zen is pacing, staring at his phone.  The doors open and everyone stands, Seven is ushered through.

He’s already on his phone, waving Zen and Jaehee off with his good hand, the other in a brace heavy at his side. Saeren sits, so Yoosung sits. He can see by Seven’s face that he’s yelling but it’s static again, then Saeren moves.  Stands, walks towards his brother and takes the phone from him, Seven joins Zen’s pacing.

Yoosung reaches in his pocket, his hands are shaking, he wonders how long that’s been happening, he inhales through his nose and counts to ten, he exhales through his mouth and his fingers find the soft rubber of his phone case.

The screen is cracked, it’s harder to breathe now and everything is colours and static again.  What had she said to him?  It seemed so long ago since she’d stayed with him and Rika.  He’d been so worried and overwhelmed and she’d found him, sat across from him and handed him one of her headphones.  What had the song been.

_Listen to the way the piano builds, there’s nothing else, just find a string of notes and follow them, ignore the rest.  Inhale through your nose and count to ten, exhale through your mouth. Remember, you’re doing all you can._

The static is so loud and his hands are shaking, it’s hard to scroll through the long list of music.  He inhales through his nose, counts to ten, exhales through his mouth.

 _Clair de Lune_?  That has to be it.

His hands are shaking so badly that he thinks he’s restarted it three times before he gets his phone back in his pocket.

Zen is sitting now, Seven is standing at one of the sets of doors, and Saeren is still on the phone.  Yoosung finds a string of notes to follow over the static.  Saeren is handing Seven the phone, they’re talking and Zen and Jaehee join them.  Should he go too?  No one seems to notice him here in the corner. 

There’s a chill, where did his jacket go?

Seven looks like he’s arguing with the three of them, like he might be crying, Yoosung wonders how they’re not all crying right now. Seven brandishes his phone but Jaehee takes it away from him, it seems easy considering the brace on his arm.  Someone starts towards them, should he get up, could he help?

A set of doors swing open and Jumin storms through them, there’s a bruise on his face and he only seems to be wearing half of a shirt, a series of distraught hospital staff trail after him.

Yoosung’s hands don’t shake anymore, he inhales through his nose and counts to ten, exhales through his mouth.  Jumin pushes Jaehee aside and one of the hospital staff shouts something at him, Zen steps out of his way.  He can see Jumin’s face reflected in the window, he’s saying something through gritted teeth, his bare arm is raw and Seven is shaking his head.  Jumin has both hands on Seven’s face.

The song loops back and begins again, Yoosung picks a new string of notes to follow, there is no static now, just the rise of voices beyond the music. Saeren and Seven seem to be leaving, Jumin is arguing with nurses, they seem to be urging him towards the doors.  Zen is sitting beside him.

He inhales through his nose, counts to ten, exhales through his mouth.

“Has anyone called her parents?” He asks taking one headphone out.

Zen and Jaehee stare at him.

“Someone should tell them,” he whispers getting to his feet.

“I think we should wait until she’s out of surgery,” Jaehee says moving to sit closer to him.

“Where is everyone else?” He asks.

They both look at him and he shrugs, tries to look nonchalant and points to his headphones.

“Saeren is taking Luciel home—”

“Max,” he says softly.

Jaehee nods, “If I understand the babysitter could not stay she has—”

“Exams!  Oh no.”

Zen and Jaehee look at him.  Zen frowns.  “Did you forget you have exams?”

“I don’t know,” he fumbles to get his phone out of his pocket. “I’ve been studying I think, I don’t think, oh no.”

Jaehee takes his hands and Zen finds his phone, he inhales through his nose, he counts to ten and follows the notes, he exhales through his mouth.

“You put them in your calendar, right?” Zen asks.  “Because it looks like you have one Monday but not today.”

He can feel his hands relax under Jaehee’s and she lets him go. They sit there, in the small plastic waiting room chairs, shoulder to shoulder.

“You should go home, Jaehee,” Zen says.

“I am fine,” she shakes her head.

They’re quiet again, staring at the only doors that haven’t opened yet.  Jaehee’s phone vibrates and they both look at her.  The way her face gets stern, her shoulders set.  She grits her teeth and types something on her phone, she’s clearly arguing. She growls under her breath and shoves her phone into her pocket.

They don’t ask.

“Mr. Han has been released.” She says when a few minutes have passed.  “He is on his way home.”

“ _Home_ ,” Zen shouts.  From somewhere out of sight a nurse shushes them.  “That guy!  Home?  He should be here, Luciel _had_ to leave but Jumin Han should be here, one of them needs to be here for her.”

Yoosung doesn’t say anything, he remembers Jumin’s face. He replays the scene in his head, Jumin hadn’t made eye contact with anyone, not even Seven.  Jaehee and Zen are talking in angry whisper’s about Jumin and he considers defending him but the static is getting louder. 

He puts the other headphone back in, he inhales through his nose, counts to ten, exhales through his mouth.  He leans back against the wall, Jaehee and Zen leaning over him now still quietly arguing and watches the doors.

He’s the first one up when they open.  Zen has fallen asleep and he suspects Jaehee is working on her phone to stay awake.  He takes one headphone out on his way.

“She’s out of surgery, it went quite well,” the Doctor says to someone over his shoulder.  “The injury to her head appears to be more of a superficial wound; we don’t think there was any real trauma presented to her brain.”  The doctor looks around the room. “Are you family?  Is her fiancé, or Mr. Han here?”

Yoosung can hear Zen grind his teeth.

“I-uh, I’m going to be contacting her family overseas,” he stammers. “Se-Lu-Sae-H-Her fiancé, is uh, he had to go home to be with her daughter.” Jaehee has a hand on his shoulder.

“I see,” the Doctor says giving the three of them a long look.  “I really should speak with Mr. Choi or Mr. Han first.”

“We will be sure to let them know,” Jaehee nods. 

Thank god for Jaehee, he thinks as the doctor begins to talk, drowned out by static, he can see Jaehee taking notes and Zen is pacing.  Not long after they’re ushered down a hall, and into an elevator.  They find her in a room, large and private with a big window and a beautiful view.  He can see the C&R building a few blocks away.

She looks small in the hospital bed. There are stitches on her forehead into her hairline, one eye is black, her nose is broken, one arm is strapped to her torso and a bandage sticks out of her hospital gown.  Jaehee and Zen sit in the chairs near the bed but he leans over her, he commits this image to memory, he wishes he could hear what the doctor had said.  He wishes he’d thought to ask exactly what they’d done.

“Yoosung what are you doing?” Zen hisses at him.

He hadn’t noticed, he was lifting the bandage, what _was_ he doing? “Sorry. I wanted to see the incision, make sure—” He trailed off, what had he wanted to make sure, to examine the staples, the stitches, be sure the scaring would be minimal.  Jumin had probably taken care of that.

He brushes her hair out of her face, the stitches on her forehead started out sloppy, _are their students here_ , he wonders.  No, Jumin Han had probably issued some threats, the sloppy stitches were nerves not a novice.

“She’s going to have a scar,” he whispers.  “They did a good job though, tell Jumin it won’t be very bad.”

They both look at him, surprised.  They still don’t know what he goes to school for.

 

 


	21. Accidents and Recovery 2

If he just takes a moment to rest his eyes perhaps he can finally get some sleep, but as soon as he does there’s the sound and he can feel the way they were thrown, everyone is yelling.

He opens his eyes, he’s sitting in his office his desktop glaring stark in front of him, Assistant Kang at her desk just outside his door.  He’d wanted to send her home when he’d seen her at her desk, the angry bruise on her forehead reminded him too much of the night before.  She would just tell him to do the same.

She too appeared exhausted and he was certain if he should choose to look she would also be attempting to sleep at her desk.  They had both booked today off due to the party and he assumed many of the clients who’d attended had done the same.  This was the reason, he suspected for the lack of work to be done.

Not that he could focus.

And then his phone sings out an email notification and he finds himself excited for the distraction.

“No, no, no,” Ms Kang calls from just outside his office. “Mr. Han don’t—”

She stands in the door but he’s already opened it.  His chest tightens and he sinks into his chair.  His vision swims and somewhere from deep underwater Ms. Kang is speaking.

“I’m sorry I must have hit the wrong button, I’m just, Mr. Han are you alright?”

“Is this what you’ve been doing all morning?” He asks when he can breathe again.

She nods slowly.

“You’re why I’ve had absolutely nothing to do today?”

“N-No,” she says. “I suspect perhaps your father has had your work delegated elsewhere after last night, I only had your emails filtered to my account to prevent you from any _unnecessary_ interactions. She would have asked me to,” she adds quietly, “I think.”

His chest tightens.  It’s his fault. “You should go home Ms. Kang.”

“Mr. Han, I don’t think—”

“You can monitor my emails from there if you feel like you need to.  I will draft a form letter for you to respond to these concerned inquiries.”

“Mr. Han with all due respect if you are going to be here and not with her than the least I can do is—”

“The least you can do is take your day off as planned Ms. Kang,” he says sharply but he regrets it.  Calliope would scold him, _Jaehee is only worried for you_ he can hear her say. “I’m, _sorry_ , I just can’t stand to look at you today,” and he knows that was not the way to say it.

“I am sorry, there is nothing I can do about that Mr. Han,” she says pointedly.

“I only mean that I have enough reminders of last night, I came here to try to distract myself.”

She hovers in his doorway for a moment and then leaves, he can hear her gathering her things just outside and before she leaves she stops again and says, “It wasn’t your fault.”

 _It was though_ , he thinks.  She’d arrived to the party with a Choi twin on each arm and they greeted guests the three of them, her hair hidden beneath a red wig that matched the Choi’s bright hair.  She was Luciel’s fiancé that night and everything about her spoke to that.

He had been jealous, he had no right to be, with her so often appearing at his side, and certainly Saeyoung deserved this night, especially after the last party.  And then it had gotten over and they’d stayed to wait out the caterer’s and musicians they’d continued drinking and he still couldn’t say why he’d done it.

So late with no one to see, they were the last ones to get into the van, it was raining and she was holding both their hands, when she went to follow Luciel into the big vehicle he’d held tight to her hand pulling her back, meaning to kiss her.

Scandalous to steal a kiss so publically after she’d been so obviously with Luciel, none of his clients really associating her internet persona with the woman they’d met in passing at a business dinner.

But then there had been the squeal of tires, and he should have let go, one of them would have to, if he’d have let go perhaps she would have been as superficially injured as the rest.  She’d be at home, and his arm wouldn’t be in a sling and he wouldn’t feel this _knot_ in his chest.

He presses his free palm to his forehead but the scratch of the bandage only adds to the feeling. He’s tearing at the tape, trying to push up his sleeve with his restrained arm when his phone vibrates and meows.

He freezes, he doesn’t want to touch it, doesn’t want to know what it says but he has to.

Two words.  _She’s awake._


	22. Accidents and Recovery 3

“Do you want to stay home from school today?”

Saeren glares at him from over Max’s head as she sits at the table.  He keeps his hands in his lap and tries to think, she’s a smart kid, will she notice he’s wearing different glasses? They’re not that different from his old ones but she’s observant.

“Does Mom have something planned today?”

He can hear his brother silently screaming at him from the coffee maker but he has no idea what to say.  He shoves a pastry in his mouth so he doesn’t have to talk.  Max shrugs and eats her cereal.

It had gone so wrong, were they cursed?  Was he being punished?  Two parties now and he couldn’t save her this time.  He remembered the way she smiled at him when he’d held out the dress.  The colours, the print, it would match his suit, Saeren had complained when they found him something to match but he’d gone along with it.  When Callie smiled like that, even his brother couldn’t say no.

The way she’d laugh and say “Oh no I think you’re thinking of my agent,” or “Wow, I didn’t realize we looked so alike,” when one of Jumin’s clients thought they’d recognized her.

“Oh no, that’s Ms. Miller you’re thinking of,” she laughed shaking one man’s hand.  “Calliope, not Callie.  I’m the talent, she’s the brains.”

“Really?” He’d responded amazed.  “She played the piano that evening so beautifully, it’s a shame you’re not her.”

He’d teased her about the way her mouth twitched.  Knowing she hated to shift the praise.

“Did you have a good time at your party?” Max asks him and he jumps.

“Mostly,” Saeren says sitting at the table, staring holes into his head.

“Did Mom, go to Mr. Han’s?” She was more perceptive than the entirety of the RFA.  It’s not like he can lie to her, and Callie wouldn’t want him to, but she was a sensitive kid, he knows she won’t tell him if she’s scared, he’s seen the ways she’s like her mother. 

“No,” he starts, not sure where he’s going to go.  What he’s going to say.

It had turned so fast.  She was going to go to Jumin’s, he’d had her attention all night and they’d been drinking, as much as he wanted to join them, the smell of alcohol on his partners breath had always been a trigger for him.

The thunder had cracked and there was a flash of light across the sky and she was calling out a waltz insisting they dance with her.

“Why are you wasting this?” She laughed at them.  Yoosung’s coat draped over her shoulders.  Jumin had caught it when she threw out her arms and spun in the lamplight, slipped it up over her arms proper; whispered something in her ear. He didn’t care what it was; he loved the way it had made her eyes sparkle as she threw herself at him, a sloppy kiss on his cheek. _Come with us_ , she almost begged.

But he was going home, they were almost late, and they’d finally found a sitter Max liked.

She was half in the Van, laughing, caught between him and Jumin.  He thought it was the thunder again, but everything is spinning and he’s trying to stay calm, remember the things he’d learned.  He tells himself Jumin will let her go and tries to pull her in but his arm is pulled out and he’s almost tumbling after her when something hits him and Zen has him by the shoulders.

He flexes his fingers in the brace. Saeren coughs.  Max is staring at him.

“You’re Mom’s ok,” he starts, again.  But Max’s jaw sets and she puts her spoon down.

“I’m going to pack my school bag, I don’t think I want to stay home, thanks.”

Shit. He stumbles out of his chair and catches her, his good hand on her shoulder, he kneels down and tries to make her look at him. “She’s ok, I promise, she’s ok,” he says, begging, hoping it’s true.

But Max won’t turn around.  He pulls her tiny body into a hug with his good arm, the brace trapped between them. “I’m sorry,” he whispers into her wild hair. “She’s ok, I’m sorry.”

And then his brother is there, he’s gathering Max up into his arms and walking away whispering in her ear and Saeyoung is left kneeling in the kitchen.  He can feel the tears welling in his eyes when his phone vibrates.

 _She’s ok_ , he begs pulling the phone out of his pocket.  _She’s alright_ , he whispers as he unlocks it.  _It’s not so bad_ , he breathes opening the message.

 _She’s awake_.


	23. Accidents and Recovery 4

_This is different_ , she thinks.  She’s sore, it’s a weird floating kind of pain, abstract almost.  Her hips, her head, her shoulders, she rolls the feelings around in her mind.  What had they gotten into last night?  Something isn’t right about the bed, but it could just be that she’s still tied to it, and why is it so bright in here?

She can hear steady breath from somewhere beside her, an amused snort.  He must know she’s awake.  She can’t remember getting here, she remembers leaving the party, she remembers Saeyoung saying he’d relieve the baby sitter, she must have drank more than she thought.  No wonder Saeyoung went home.

“You know, I’m sure I’ve done something to deserve this Darling but I believe you owe me breakfast and a massage.”  She opens her eyes, expecting Jumin to be watching her, book in hand, tie loose at his neck, the way the corner of his mouth would quirk upwards.

Zen stares at her, red faced and slack jawed over his phone. “Uhhhh.”

“Hyun?” The room comes into focus, not Jumin’s penthouse view but the faux comfort of a hospital room. “Hyun, why am I in the hospital?”

“You’re awake,” he says softly.

“I’m awake in a hospital Hyun, why can’t I sit up,” she can feel the panic rise in her chest.  “Am I tied to the bed?  What happened?  Please tell me I’m tied to the bed.”

“Uh, you’re ok,” he says.  His voice waivers though and he glances at the door.

“If I’m ok why am I restrained?  Hyun, where is everyone else, are they ok, I’m in the hospital what do you mean I’m ok?” her words start to run together and Zen’s eyes go wide for a minute.  She can feel the tears in her eyes, _no I’m not going to cry_.

“I mean you’re mostly ok,” he starts. “And everyone else is basically ok, we’re all really ok, you were the only one really _hurt_ hurt, but you’re still ok.”

“You can’t freak out right now Hyun, because I’m freaking out right now, and I’m the one tied to a bed in a hospital so I think I’ve kind of earned freaking out.”

He laughs and she feels a little better. “There uh, there should be a doctor here, or a nurse.”

She watches him trying to avoid telling her something, he looks paler than normal, his eyes are blood shot.  “You’re still in your suit,” she says softly and he stops.

“Oh, uh yeah.  Yoosung said he’d bring me some clothes when he came back but he’s probably still asleep.”

“Hyun, what happened.  I remember leaving the building and it was raining and then it’s _blurry_.”

“They said the stuff they gave you might do that, it should, I mean you should remember as it wears off.”

“I don’t want to re- Zen, where is everyone else?  You said Yoosung went home to sleep?”

“I made him, he was freaking out, and Jaehee was going to go to the office to have IT filter Jumin’s email through her account so he didn’t have to deal with, you know clients enquiring about you, she was supposed to come back but I guess Jumin showed up, and Seven and Saeren are home with Max.”

“And everyone is ok?”

“Yoosung and I are fine, a little bruised, Jaehee hit her head but it looked worse than it was, I think Saeren got some stitches, I don’t know he was bleeding and they put him in an ambulance, Jumin is at work so it can’t be as bad as it looked.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well his arm was pretty messed up, I don’t know what happened you two were outside the van and we were in, looked like road rash, there was something with his wrist I think one of the nurses was yelling at him about, but I mean he’s at work so that’s a good thing right?  Didn’t break any of his robot parts.”

She shakes her head.  “It’s not a good thing at all, why do you think Jaehee didn’t come back.”

He looks like he might say something but when she looks away he just lets out a breath.

“What about Saeyoung?  You said he’s home with Max?”

“He had a brace on his arm, he said it wasn’t anything serious.”

“Which arm?”

“What?”

“Was it the same one, from _you know_?”

“I guess.”

“Shit,” she closes her eyes, the pain is more intense now, and she remembers getting into the car, Jumin pulling her out.  “How did he look though?”

“He uh, he was yelling at the babysitter when they couldn’t stay, Saeren sorted it out though, who would have thought that guy would be the calm one.  He seemed ok when they left.”

“Has anyo—”

The door swings open and a woman with a wide smile steps through. “You’re awake then, that’s wonderful how do you feel?”

“Like I drank a bottle of cheap tequila and missed a hell of a mosh pit.”

She laughs nervously and glances at Zen. “Once the anesthesia wears off you should remember more, has your boyfriend caught you up to speed?”

“A musical fan, Doctor?” Callie asks.

“Oh, uh was it obvious.” 

Zen blushes but Callie rolls her eyes. “My fiancé is at home with my daughter.  Hyun is just,” she stops.  They weren’t close. “Why are you here actually?”

He shrugs.  “Someone needed to be.  You’re in the RFA, we’re family.”


	24. Accidents and Recovery 5

By the time the doctors and nurses leave her room is already filling up with flowers and Saeyoung is waiting, a mop of red hair peeking around the door.

“For a secret agent you’re not very sneaky Luciel,” she laughs.

“Oh jokes, I thought you were grievously injured but here you are, lounging about, eating bonbons, poking fun.  I suppose you won’t need this!” He thrusts a gym bag into the room in front of him.

“Oh, real clothes, gimme gimme.”  She reaches her free hand out and makes grabby hands at him.

“You’re ok though,” he asks, face serious.  “Zen said you were pretty freaked out when you woke up.”

“I mean it hurts, like a lot, but now that I’m remembering things it’s not so bad.  Which seems super fucking weird but it was weirder having strangers quote me to me all morning.”

He sets the bag on the chair by the bed and takes her face gently in his hands, carefully turning her head and checking her over.  He kisses her forehead by the stitches.

“No one really knows why I have a big super-villain face wound you know?” She laughs.  “The doctors say it’s not from any kind of hard contact because aside from being shaken up like a can of paint I don’t seem to have a serious concussion or anything.  Right now we’re going with a stray hair pin or piece of jewelry maybe.”

While she talks he kisses each of her cheeks in turn, and then her nose, he picks up her free hand and kisses the tips of each finger.

“I was hoping for a bad ass scar,” she laughs pulling her hand away.  “But Yoosung insists the stitches are really well done so I guess that’s one more dream to die.”

There are tears in his eyes when he finally looks up.

“Nope,” she shakes her head.  “Listen no, you can’t do that?  Where’s Max.  Come on Saeyoung, I’m ok, we’re all ok.”  She reaches with her free arm and pulls him against her; he wraps his arms around her, the weight of his brace heavy on her wounded shoulder.  He presses his face into the top of her head and she can feel the jagged rise and fall of his chest as he fights to control himself.

“Everyone’s ok, Saeyoung.  There was nothing you could have done.” She whispers.

One deep breath and he lets her go, sits on the hospital bed beside her.  She wants to lean on him but she can’t, not with him on her bad side.

“I could have let go sooner.”

“Everything happened so fast,” she says, she wants to touch him, reassure him somehow, but she can’t from here, not with her arm restrained.

“I couldn’t see you, _either_ of you.”

“Hey, you know, none of this is your fault.  It was an accident, shit happens and we’re all alive and mostly ok. “

“Jumin won’t even talk to me.”

“Join the club yeah?” She tries to laugh.  “We call ourselves the RFA.”

“He hasn’t called you either?”

“I guess he’s called _about_ me, but he’s not talking to Zen or Yoosung, and Jaehee said that all he’s said to her was that he can’t stand her face and he wanted her to leave.” She frowns.  “I hope she was paraphrasing.”

They sit there on the edge of the bed in quiet for a minute, Saeyoung squeezes her knee.

“He doesn’t blame you, he’s not mad at you.”

“Says you.”

“Hey, if he was mad at you he would be here, he would be talking to everyone else.  He thinks this is his fault.  Give him a day or two, let him process, you know what he’s like.” She smiles at him but he can see she’s trying her hardest to keep it together.

For all her jokes, all her understanding, she’s barely holding it together.  “I’m sorry,” he says quietly.

She shakes her head. “Don’t be.  Where’s Max?”

“With Saeren, they’re trying to find the most ridiculous item in the gift shop for you.  I told him I’d send him a text when we were ready.”

“So you freaked out.”

“No, I,” he stops and thinks, “I don’t think so.”

“You freaked out, she’s freaking out, she wouldn’t have let you come up here alone if she wasn’t worried.”

“I’m trying so hard, Callie.”

She smiles, the bright wide smile he’s used to seeing. “Hey I’m not mad, I’d have freaked out too, it’s ok. But you’re going to have to suck it up you know?”

“I _know._ ”

“Ok, because I’m a mess, and Jumin’s a mess, and she’s a mess, you’re brother sounds like he’s holding it together but honestly he was a mess to begin with.  You can be a mess when she goes to bed ok?”

He smiles at her. “Start small?”

“You bet, now help me change, the IV is going to freak her out more than the scar or the bandage.”

 


	25. Accidents and Recovery 6

He picks up the phone on the second day.  He can’t avoid them forever and he can’t bring himself to call her.  These doctors could cite her charts to him all they want but he needs to know how she is, how she’s really doing.

Hyun is angry with him, but not so angry as he is with himself, so he starts there.  He’s surprised to hear that he is spending as much time with her as he is, they’ve never been incredibly close.  Yoosung seems apprehensive to speak to him, Jaehee tells him bluntly to ask her himself, Max answers when he calls Saeyoung.

“We’re getting ready to visit Mom,” she tells him, happy chirping voice.

“How is your Mother?”

“She’s fine Mr. Han.”

“Is that what she told you?”

“Nope,” she says matter of factly, “she said she’s excellent and that the Doctors won’t let her go home because you’re an over cautious worry wort, but she’s not so bad.  We’re going to take her a bunch of things to do today.”

“She called me a worry wort?”

“There were swears,” and he can picture her shrug.  “But it meant worry wort.”

“Oh.”

“You gonna call her today?”

“I don’t know,” he admits.

“Do you want to talk to Luciel?”

“No thank you, Max.”

She hangs up the phone, no goodbye, and he laughs.  He’ll visit today, he decides.  His father has been reassigning all his meetings despite his insistence that he is fine and there is very little to do.  Ms. Kang has been working from home so he doesn’t have to see the bruise on her face, he’s quite bored.  It will be nice to see her now, apologize.

He’s confident until he steps foot inside the building.  He remembers her in the ambulance, they’d strapped them to the boards and she’d spent the whole drive making jokes. He couldn’t turn his head to look at her, but he could hear her arguing with them about everything.  Trying to convince herself she was fine.

The elevator doors ding and open and he tries not to remember, they wouldn’t tell him anything, in a little room behind a curtain, not even that she was in surgery; Saeyoung’s panicked face in the waiting room.  He can feel tears welling in his eyes and he stops mid stride. This doesn’t help anyone.  He knows where her room is, he’d requested it specifically because its view featured his building but as he nears the room he can hear them.  She’s laughing and he can hear Luciel, Max is cackling, and other people.  Voices he doesn’t recognize, another American and someone else. 

He peaks in the open door.  Max is draped over the shoulders of a man he doesn’t recognize while the strange American is chasing him around the room, Calliope is sat in the middle of her bed, her head is thrown back, her hair wild, and she’s laughing madly.  Some frantic Chopin piece plays from somewhere in the room.

He wants to turn it off, his heart races with the keys, Chopin makes her anxiety worse, but Max and the strange men seem to be playing some game to the noise of it.

“Keep spinning Martin, I’m making you clean it up if she barfs,” the American laughs.

“I’m not going to barf Uncle Wyatt,” Max insists.

“She’s not going to barf, _Uncle Wyatt,”_ the man called Martin mimics.

They all laugh.

Her brother is here, of course.

He should go, this was a family moment, and he had proven that he didn’t belong there, he deserved no more than lingering outside the door.  She looked ok, she was laughing and wearing her own clothing, she had her brother, Max and Saeyoung, and whoever Martin was.

He should just leave.

*

“Oh no,” She says when she sees him in the doorway.

“Uncle Wyatt!” Max yells running for the tall man in the doorway.

Callie looks at Saeyoung.  “You knew about this?”

“He called as we were leaving to ask what hospital you were at, he made me promise not to tell you.”

“You were talking to Mom then.”

“Not like you ever answer your emails.”

“Doing a lot of emailing right now, yeah Wyatt?” She laughs and points to the arm strapped to her.  “I don’t even get to dress myself.”

“Your Mom didn’t tell him anything.”

Saeyoung’s eyes look like they might pop out of his head when he sees the taller man push past Callie’s brother.

“Martin?  You asshole, he drug you along?”

Martin drops a suitcase on the floor and hugs her as tight as he dares with as purple as she is.

“Mom told me you were in an accident but Celia said you were fine, and she figured it was no big deal because you didn’t call her yourself,” her brother says.

“Then I saw you on the news yelling in three languages while they shoved you in an ambulance.”  Martin laughs.

“I was not,” she laughs.

“Don’t worry we didn’t make a special trip,” her brother assures her.  “We’re only here for a few hours, just a layover.”  Wyatt gives Saeyoung a long look.  “Who’s this guy,” he stage whispers to Max.

“That’s Luciel, Mom’s gonna marry him.” She shrugs.

“Is this the guy Mom is on about then?” her brother asks, and Saeyoung blushes.

“Nope, that’s either Hyun or Jumin, this is the one Celia is on about.”

“Oh buddy,” Wyatt laughs.  “If you guys go home for Christmas let me know, I could sell tickets to that showdown.”

“Wyatt, lives in Japan,” she says to Saeyoung.

“And I’ve had this shit in storage for 10 years, so you might as well take it back now.”  He kicks at the suitcase.

“Uh,” Callie and Saeyoung point to their injured arms.  “Nice try big brother but neither of us is lifting anything right now.”

Martin shakes his head and lifts the suitcase up onto the bed beside her.  Max is already there unbuckling and pulling zippers until it’s open. “Uncle Martin!” she shrieks when he scoops her up over his shoulder.

“You must be huge in Japan,” she laughs.

“I think I get jobs just to do the heavy lifting,” he laughs.  “Are you still dancing?”

“Sometimes,” she says.  “Not like I used to.”

“Oh?  Finally go contemporary or something?”

“Ballroom,” Saeyoung whispers and they look at him.

“For real,” Martin says.  “You never really competed well with a partner.”

“With this guy?” her brother asks.

Saeyoung looks intently at his hands.

“Mom dances at dinner with Mr. Han sometimes.” Max clarifies from Martin’s shoulder. 

He swings her around, “Oh a fancy box step,” he chuckles.

“Oh sure, when I’m on the news covered in blood yelling like a crazy person you see it, when I’m on the news doing the tango with a CEO of a billion dollar corporation your TV doesn’t work.”

“You what?” Martin says stopping dead.

She blushes. “You heard me, don’t act like you can’t hear me down here you big gay giant.”

He gasps and clutches his chest with both hands, Max squeals and clings to his arms.  “You’re so tiny and angry, you wound me!”

He dances away from her and Max squeals again on his shoulders.  Wyatt joins in as some frantic Chopin piece starts to play over the little speaker Yoosung had left with her. He chases the two of them around

She digs through the suitcase. 

“Keep spinning Martin, I’m making you clean it up if she barfs,” Wyatt laughs.

“I’m not going to barf Uncle Wyatt,” Max insists.

“She’s not going to barf, _Uncle Wyatt,”_ Martin mimics.

The three of them laugh and Callie turns to the door just in time to see _someone_ walking away, she frowns , she couldn’t see much through the small opening but she _hoped_ — she was probably wrong.

“What is all this Wyatt?”

“All the music stuff you left at Mom’s when they moved home.  I brought it with when I moved back here, but you guys were moving home then and I’ve been dragging it around all of Asia ever since.”

“I forgot I left this.”  She picks through the books of sheet music, scores for musicals, sonatas, concerto, piano, violin.  She’d thought she’d lost all this.  Straps, picks, strings, tools, even a bow, barely holding it together; she can’t believe that there had been a whole stash of things safe from Toby.

“Oh,” her brother says smiling and brushing his long hair out of his face, “the best part!”  He reaches around the door frame and presents a small case.

“Another ukulele,” Max laments.

“No!” Wyatt and Callie call out. 

“If this was at Mom’s, wait where did you get this?”

He sets it in her lap and she traces the stickers on the case, flicks the charms on the handle.

“The chick who bought it was Lauren’s girlfriend, we saw it sitting in her apartment one day and your brother started laughing.” Martin laughs himself remembering it.

“Those stupid cellphone charms, you were obsessed, you hung them on everything and I saw that and—”

“He says to _my sister_ ‘Well I guess you have a type,’ which, _you know_ that started a fight.”

“And Lauren shoved the Violin at us, said ‘she doesn’t even play it’ and pushed us out the door.”

“It’s a violin?” Max says reverently.

“You still play right?” Martin asks.  “I see you post about singing bullshit all the time but if you don’t dance you’ve got to play right?”

“Hey Max,” Saeyoung says, “you know it’s time for school kiddo.”

“ _What_ , school?” Wyatt whines.

“We have tests today,” the 9 year old shrugs.  “Can’t miss them.”

“Is she adopted,” Martin stage whispers.

Callie shakes her head and points at Wyatt.  “Just like him.”

They laugh.

“Are you coming back after?” She asks, Saeyoung. 

“I can’t,” he sighs, “I have to finish transcribing code to Saeren or I’m never going to get this contract done”

“Just let him do it,” she laughs.  “You know he can.”

“But then I have to _pay him more_ , and you know, _my babies_.”

“I know. I am painfully aware you love your cars more than me.”

“Cars, Max, then you,” he laughs kissing her on the forehead and drags Max away.

“So that’s legal here,” her brother laughs when Saeyoung is out of earshot.  He moves the suitcase and flops down on the bed beside her.

“Fuck off,” she laughs.  “He’s 21, that’s an adult.”

“He’s a baby.”

“You’re a dinosaur,” Martin laughs.

They all laugh.

“So what happened?” Martin asks, pointing to her arm.  “The news didn’t really have much to say, something about a party and a rich guy, car accident?”

“Yeah Jumin keeps a tight leash on pretty much everything.”

“Oh _Jumin_ does, _does_ _he_?” Wyatt teases.

She throws a pillow at him with her good arm.  “I uh, I moonlight as an event organizer for his charity group, that’s how I met, well everyone,” she laughs.  “That’s how I got the C&R sponsorship and everything.”

“ _Everything_?” Martin raises his eyebrows.

“Uh,” she stammers. “Well like I said, I met Luciel, and I’m contracted as a Host slash entertainment for C&R functions as well as the Cookies and Punch network hosting which I do through the C&R sponsored station here, plus I still maintain my crew duties overseas, and the event organizer gig landed me a spot in the RFA which I guess is a pretty big deal charity locally.”

“Celia said you just play video games and fuck around all day, sounds like you keep pretty busy.”

“Yeah well who the fuck knows what T tells her.  He hired some woman to follow me around and take pictures, he thought he could take Max away.  He was here for a year and took her for like 20 days total and he wanted to take her away.”

“Why does Cici keep talking to him?” Martin asks.

“Because he’s the only person alive who hates me as much as she does?” Callie shrugs.

“Ok, but what about the accident, what happened?  Because your fiancé doesn’t look like he got that beat up but _you’re_ in the hospital, Cal.”

“I mean it wasn’t that bad, it was just perfect timing you know?  We were leaving the party late, almost everyone was in the Van, and it was raining and some kid joyriding in his Dad’s fancy car hydroplaned into us.  I was just getting in the Van, Jumin was just outside, I’d stopped in the door to— and we were hit and we were thrown, the car hit the building and we kind of bounced off of it I guess.  I think the kid was more messed up than any of us but no one will really tell me, I think they’re scared of Jumin, I hope he’s not like, suing the kid.”  She frowns and looks at the door.

“And he’s the boyfriend then?” Wyatt says.

“ _What_ ,” she squeaks.  “No, you _just_ met Luciel.”

“Yeah, he’s your fiancé but this Jumin guy, come on Cal, we all remember your vow to become the Ash Ketchum of dating.” Martin chuckles.

“When I was 16.” 

“Come on,” her brother goads. 

She looks around the room and makes a face. The two men watch her, the three of them sitting, staring at one another for a full minute before she says quietly. “Ok so it might be a practical application of my Pokémon dating theory.”

“Obviously there’s been some revision,” Martin laughs.

The door to the room clicks shut.  “What’s the Pokémon dating theory?”

“Gotta catch ‘em all!” Martin and Wyatt laugh.

“ _Yoosung_ , you need to wear a bell!” Callie is blushing.

Yoosung is just as red as she is and glances around the room. “You’re talking about Seven and Jumin?” He asks, concerned.

“Yoosung, this is my brother Wyatt and his husband Martin.  “Yoosung is one of the RFA’s founding members, he goes to Sky  U.”

“Oh wow,” Wyatt says, “that school’s a pretty big deal.”

“My brother is a pretty big nerd,” she laughs.

“You were talking about Jumin?” Yoosung asks quietly.

“Sort of, I mean we were talking about the accident, and since my brother never calls me, and Martin is the worst childhood best friend in history I had to catch them up.”

“Oh, so he didn’t call you today?” Yoosung wrings his hands.

“He called you though, or you wouldn’t ask.”

“I think I should have been nicer.”

“I’m sure he understands.”

“Thanks _mom_ ,” her brother whispers.

She gives her brother a look and he puts up his hands to surrender.

“He needs time,” she tells Yoosung, “he probably thinks— he just needs time, especially something like this so soon after V.”

“I guess.”

“Oh, do tell, who’s V?” Her brother stops mid eyebrow waggle when he notices the shared look on Yoosung and Callie’s face.

“Sorry,” he says.

“V died,” Yoosung says, firmly.

“He was Jumin’s best friend,” she clarifies.  “It was, sudden and well, _it was sudden_.”

“So does Nina know about this kid?” Wyatt asks, clearly changing the subject.

“What?” Yoosung asks.

“Abstractly, from facebook she probably does?’

“Just trying figure out why she’s fundraising for a Korean competition this year.”

“Celia is _letting_ her?” Callie laughs.

“I wouldn’t say she’s letting her so much as Nina does what she wants.  Cici is pissed, she blames you.”

“I mean, of course she does, but I didn’t know.  Nina won’t even tell me what songs she’s using in her program this year and she’s sworn Gilles to secrecy. But wow, why is she coming here?”

“I think the general consensus is you,” Martin shrugs.  “That’s what the yelling sounds like when your sister calls.”

Wyatt and Callie exchange a look. “Noooo,” Callie whispers. “You don’t think.”

“I clearly do think and so do you.”

“I know him,” she says quietly. “I mean, I know where he is, like if that’s what she’s doing.”

 

 


	26. Accidents and Recovery 7

The news, every channel on her TV for the last 15 channels has been the news, and there’s Jumin in the gossip section.  His leash can only get so tight, she figures, shots of Yoosung and Zen in the hospital parking lot, shots of Jumin, his face is just as purple as hers, one arm in a sling and the other very stiff as he practically marches into his building, more shots of the accident. 

She turns off the TV.  She’s still pretty helpless with her arm strapped to her, alone in this room.  Her laptop was out of reach, and her phone was god knows where after the accident.  Everything was worse at night and calling a nurse to bring things to her things she should be able to get herself.

The painkillers didn’t work as well at night, and there was no one to take her mind off of anything, she was just left here, waiting for someone to call the room phone and hope that this time she managed not to drop it.

She’s not exactly surprised when the phone rings.  “I thought it was just a layover but here you are calling me from what I bet is a local number.”

“So you’re on the news in the states,” Wyatt says, he does not sound impressed. 

“Honestly?”

“Also, did you know that our Mother is the devil?”

“What did she do?” She doesn’t mean to but she laughs.

“She canceled my flight, I still can’t figure out how.”

“What?! _No.”_

 _“_ You’re not even a little surprised are you?” He says, he sounds exhausted.

“Are you going to be in shit?  I’ll cover your hotel where are you staying.”

“Jesus Cal, it’s fine.  We had to cancel our visit with Martin’s family since we’re getting in a whole day late so I told Mom she’ll see us at Christmas, and _you’re_ stuck with us for a whole day tomorrow.  Do we get to meet the rest of the _boys_.”

“Please don’t say that word like that.”

True to his word Wyatt was in the door as soon as they let visitors in, Saeyoung had called to tell her he couldn’t bring Max in because of work, and it wasn’t long before the doctors were in to make their rounds.  A new doctor again this morning.

“You have family in the area then Ms. Miller?” He asked, friendly conversation.

“Yeah that knob with the long hair is my brother Wyatt.”  She laughs when he flips her off behind the doctor’s back.

“And this other gentleman must be your fiancé,” he smiles at Martin.

“My brother’s husband, but I know what you mean, believe me I tried.”

The three of them laugh and the doctor looks uncomfortable.

“I think we’ll try taking the brace off tomorrow morning for a few hours at least and then setting you up with a physiotherapist.  Find out just how hard you’re going to have to work to regain full use of that arm.”

“And then I can go home.”

“Well, no,” he says.

“I get that there are like recommended stay times but I have a kid at home and two strong young men to do my heavy lifting.  I promise I’ll follow your orders, cross my heart.”

“I’m sorry Ms. Miller it’s been suggested that I strongly advise you not to discharge yourself.”

“By who?” She asks.

“I’m sorry Ms. Miller.”

“Yeah well tell him that’s not the same as calling.”

The doctor backs out of the room and Martin follows.

She looks at Wyatt.  “Something tells me I’m not going to like what he’s doing out there.”

Wyatt shrugs. “I’m sure it’ll keep _me_ entertained.”

It’s almost noon when Zen opens the door to her room, he’d planned to be earlier but Luciel had asked him to drop off Callie’s replacement phone.  He’d expected the strangers in the room, Seven had warned him at least that Callie’s brother and his husband were in town.

He wasn’t expecting a giant man supporting Callie in what appeared to him an impressive arabesque.  He hovers unnoticed in the doorway, everyone in the room distracted by Callie.

“I’m really disappointed in you,” the man was saying. 

“Yeah well no one pays me to impress you, Martin,” Callie shot back.

“Straighten your goddamned back woman.”

“I will Mike Tyson your ear Martin, and I will like it,” she grunts.

“Can you even stand pointe anymore?”

“It’s been 11 years but I bet you’re going to make me.”

Zen watches Callie try to raise herself up to stand on her toes, one leg still stretched behind her, her good arm stretched in front of her and this stranger named Martin with a delicately placed hand on her back and abdomen keeping her steady.

“Shit,” she grunts.  “Well I fucking did that, are we done or what?”

Martin laughs. “Let’s just try this.”  He moves one hand below her leg and starts to lift.”

“You piece of shit, no, are you fucking kidding me?”

“Look how high you could be going, still not even close to your best though.”

“Yeah fine, fine.  Call your guy but—Shit,” she lurches forward and crumples, the two men catch her, one at the waist the other grabbing her good arm the three of them helplessly tangled in IV lines.

“What the hell?” Zen says and Callie glances over her shoulder at him.

“Oh hey, Hyun, you’re late.  Did you have an audition today?” She leans against the tall man and pretends to stretch.

“Are you trying to be stuck in here forever?”

She laughs.

“It’s not funny Callie, you could have hurt yourself more.”

“Calm down Doctor Ryu, Martin is a professional and he’s got permission from my doctor.”

“Hyun Ryu, huh?” Martin says looking Zen over thoughtfully.

“Yep,” Callie laughs.  “Did you ever work together?  Hyun do you know Martin DeLonge?”

Zen shakes his head, a little awed. “The Martin DeLonge?”

Martin reaches out to shake his hand.  “You auditioned for me once though, no formal training but full of potential.”

“You should sign him up for torture classes, not me.”

“I should,” he says softly.  “I think as long as you don’t mind sharing the time, Surana would probably love to get her greedy hands on this kid.”

“What’s happening?” Zen asks quietly.

“I think,” Wyatt laughs, “that my husband thinks you’re pretty so he’s going to get you free dance classes kid.”

“At least I know one of you will appreciate them.”

“You know Martin DeLonge,” Zen says, not really to anyone.

Callie laughs, “I mean back before he was _The Dude_ he was just the gangly guy in my dance class who couldn’t lift for shit.”

“Not my fault you were top heavy.” Martin untangles himself from the IV lines, and shakes Zen’s hand.  “You know a lot of people were rooting for you, I’m glad to see you’ve been auditioning again.”

“You’re not doing choreography for Nina this year are you?” Callie asks.

Martin looks from the stunned Zen back to Callie.  “No, Cici won’t let me near that child’s program.”

“God forbid the kid get any kind of a leg up right?” Wyatt laughs.

“Ugh,” Callie groans and slumps into one of the chairs by the big window.  “Nina can’t even talk to me since T got back.  Celia checks her phone and her social media, she sends me the odd text from other people’s phones.”

“Oh I am well aware,” Wyatt sighs.  “Nina calls me so that Celia doesn’t analyze her texts, and Celia calls me to drill me about the conversation.”

“Please tell me what I’m ruining this time.”

Zen watches the siblings fall in and out between Korean and English so fast he can’t follow, Martin notices his confusion.

“They have an older sister, she had a kid when she was 17, Callie babysat Nina for a few years when she lived in the states,” he explains.

“Do they do that a lot?” Zen asks.

“The language thing?  Sometimes.”

“They sound angry.”

Martin shrugs.  “They are.  Celia moved back to the states when she got pregnant and lived with their grandparents.  No one made her, but when Soo-geun didn’t want to marry her she just begged Anita until her and Gary couldn’t take it and let her go.  She’s always had it out for Cal, it got worse when Cal found out that Soo-geun had never wanted to give up his rights to Nina, I mean you know about Toby, right?”

Zen shrugs.  “I didn’t meet him but he didn’t spend a lot of time with Max when he was here.”

“Exactly,” Martin shakes his head and the siblings voices rise.  “And then T and Cal split and Celia won’t even entertain the idea that T is not the victim.  Nina and Cal are thick as thieves; the kid’s a lot like her Auntie.  One day that kid is going to cut her loses and Cici is going to find out just how far she’s pushed her family.”

Zen shrugs.  “Families, huh.  Kinda messed up if you ask me, we’re supposed to cherish and respect these people just because we share some DNA.”

“Hey kid, don’t look at me, I like my family.  But I guess if I had Celia for a Mom I might get what you’re saying.”

“Hyun,” Callie calls.

“What?”

“You didn’t say why you were late.”

“Oh,” he takes the chair next to her, “Seven asked me to come by and get this for you.”

 


	27. Accidents and Recovery 7

“Jumin,” she stops, sighs.  He can hear her grit her teeth.  “I get it, I know, you need time.  I just,” she stops again, he can hear the sharp whistle of breath through clenched teeth.  “It’s not your fault you know.”

She hadn’t even been awake for an hour and she almost sounded like she believed it.  He kept all her messages, listened to them daily.  Between the little bit of work he could manage before he was ushered out of the office.  Between emails from concerned clients who’d met her once in passing at a banquet.  Between his own calls to her doctors.

“You know I really do get it, I know you think this is your fault.”  She sounds upset, like she’s trying to hide it.  “Please just, if you can’t visit, just call me?”  Scared, she sounded scared.  It was late when she’d called, the end of the first day, and she sounded scared.  He’d never heard her scared before, not even in the ambulance, not even after Mint Eye.  “I mean, just, please, Jumin.”

He couldn’t though.  He didn’t deserve her forgiveness, her pity, he couldn’t bare her kindness.  His father had insisted he try to stay home while he recovered but he hated it here.  Then her brother had come, her people and how could _he_ face them, how could he shake his hand when he was the reason she was in the hospital to begin with.

“You’re being ridiculous, Jumin.  I know you were here today.  Call me, call Saeyoung.  Stop avoiding us, stop doing this to yourself.” She was angry, he deserved this. 

He didn’t delete the messages; he listened to them every day.  He answered calls from Hyun, Yoosung, even Saeyoung, he would answer calls from Saeren if he ever tried.  Of course he couldn’t avoid Ms. Kang she would just come to his home to harass him if he tried. They all updated him on Calliope’s progress, each report wildly different from the next all of them interfering with the stark landscape of her medical charts. Not that she was dying but she’d almost become some she felt she could respect and she would have to work so much harder now, because of him.

“Hey rich asshole,” day three, “you’re really going to bribe and threaten these people to keep me here?”  He can hear people behind her.  “If you think that’s the same as visiting, or calling, it’s not.

Max had a phone, it was for emergencies, and for her Dad to call.  She was an insightful kid.

“Mom’s pretty mad at you,” Max tells him after school one day. 

“Did she say that?” He asks her.

“No, but she doesn’t talk about you anymore, and Luciel only talks about you where she can’t hear.”

“It’s ok that they’re unhappy with me Max.  Is your mother well?”  Yoosung had said that she was fine, but the doctors reports did not mirror that, Hyun would say that her spirits were up and she would be fine soon.  Soon did not seem to be indicated in what he’d read.  Saeyoung refused to tell him anything about her.  Ms. Kang simply stared at him and walked away.

“They took her thing off today for a while and she saw a new kind of doctor.  Me and Luciel brought her guitars and her Ukulele, and the hospital gave her a funny little keyboard, to practice making her fingers work again.  We got there after the new doctor left and she was pretty sore.  She drew me a picture though, it’s not her best work but I’m going to keep it in my back pack until she comes home.”

Max always gave him the most accurate updates.  He was pleased the hospital would allow her to play music as part of her therapy but he worried she would be discouraged if she couldn’t play. 

“Jumin,” a long labored pause, it’s late.  Much later than he would expect her to be calling; shouldn’t she be asleep, with the medications she was on and visiting hours over, what would keep her up at this hour.  “Please just call me, or text,” she adds hastily, “I know you think you’re just punishing yourself but you’re not alone anymore, and you’re not the only one suffering.  Please stop doing this to—” she trails off.  “ _It’s so much worse at night_ ,” she whispers.

He liked it better when she was angry at him.  It was easier to tell himself that he was doing the right thing.  He goes to work the next morning, something to do to kill time before he sees his own doctor.  He braces himself for a lecture when he sees his father in the doorway.

“Have you been to see your girlfriend yet,” his father says with a smirk when the door is closed behind him.

“Calliope is not my girlfriend, Father, I’ve told you this before.”

His father chuckles, “Ms. Miller then, have you been to see her?  I asked your assistant but she didn’t want to answer me.”

“I’ve been busy,” he lies.

His father gives him a long look, he knows very well that Jumin has not been busy but he doesn’t push it.  “I thought I may send her a gift, I’m sure she’s sick of flowers and balloons, and it was suggested to me that a bottle of scotch may be inappropriate in a hospital. Do you have any ideas?”

He considers saying no, his father would miss her at lunches and banquets almost as much as he would, he’d already given the handling of her contract to another department, but then he remembered something Max had said and if he could bring himself to do these things for her than perhaps he could allow his father to.

“Jumin, you won’t believe who I saw today,” he can see her wry smile.  A few bars of Beethoven and then the jangle of a few misplaced notes and _laughter_.  “This still doesn’t make up for anything.  You need to get over yourself.”

Maybe she was right.


	28. Accidents and Recovery 8

When had she closed her eyes? 

It had been almost a week and finally things seemed to be moving, not that they’d let her go home, but at least she was able to move her arm for most of the day.  She was still leashed to the painkillers but the doctors had promised that they would move on to oral medication soon.

The physiotherapist had been with the doctor who did her check up this morning, the musical fan from the first day, Callie had said a silent prayer for familiar faces, and they removed her brace for the morning.  She had 1/3 of her normal range of motion but as concerned as everyone else was Callie had no worries.  This was as worse as she’d ever been but she always bounced back.

Saeyoung, Saeren and Max had been to visit the previous evening, an armload of instruments to join the dinky twenty something key, keyboard the hospital had provided; they’d even brought her the yard sale teal Gibson and an amp.

“You know I can’t play this in a hospital guys,” she’d laughed.  “I think they have noise restrictions.”

Max had dropped a pair of headphones in her lap, the silly cat ears with the lights.

And here she was , amp on the table beside her, ridiculous headphones on over top her knit hat, stretched out on one of the little chairs by the big window with her feet on the table and her rescued Gibson in her lap, how many songs had she gone through already?

It didn’t matter. 

It didn’t matter, that her fingers didn’t always strum the string she told them to.  It didn’t matter that she sometimes felt like her hand was a club and she’d have to wiggle each finger in turn to remind herself they worked.  It didn’t matter that she’d dropped the pick so many times she’d given up on it.  The pain was the same, and she didn’t know what to do about Jumin but that didn’t matter either, it was background noise when she played.

Yoosung had class, Max was at Judo, Hyun had an audition, the twins were working, and Wyatt and Martin were on a plane flying across the Atlantic.

She didn’t know when she started singing, or how loud, she didn’t know when she’d closed her eyes.

Someone is clapping, she thinks she’s imagining it but then she opens her eyes and there his is; Mr. Han, standing in her door way, smiling and applauding.  She pulls the ridiculous cat ear headphones off her head and sets them on the amp, untangles herself from the guitar and the IV and stands.

“That was quiet lovely Ms. Miller, I’ve never heard you perform like that before.”

She laughs. “Always a compliment Mr. Han, but I’m afraid that’s the best you can hope for, for the time being.”

“Don’t apologise.  You’re in a much better state than I’d expect the way Jumin is moping around.” He looks her up and down. “You don’t look much worse than him either if I’m being honest.”

“It’s the surgery that does it,” she smiles and shows off the scar on her shoulder. “Technology these days, I don’t even get the benefit of an impressive scar.”

“Well then, I hope I’m not out of line but I’ve brought you a present.”

“Mr. Han that was not necessary, I have more than enough flowers.”

“I told Jumin as much,” he steps out of the door way and two men push past into the room.  “He grudgingly recommended some things.”

She tries not to let her face drop when he mentions Jumin but she can tell by the thoughtful way he takes her in that she is not successful. “This is excessive Mr. Han.”

“That is what my son said when I wanted to give you a baby grand, so I compromised.”

“You what?”

“And I thought perhaps he was right, a gift like this with your injury may be disheartening but here you are, out of bed and wearing actual clothing, not just pajama’s, you seemed quite content playing by the window.”

“Honestly Mr. Han the only disheartening thing right now is Jumin.” _Shit_. “Sorry! Sorry, I didn’t mean, the medications I’m on, my internal monologue is—”

“It’s alright,” he’s smiling at her, and the men at the foot of her hospital bed are putting together some kind of stand or cabinet.  “Jumin is _difficult_ at times.”

“I’d ask you to talk to him, but we both know how he gets when his mind is set.”

“So he isn’t speaking with you then?”

“Your son is a private person it’s not my place.” She sighs.  “I know he’s worried and mad at himself, I’m trying to be understanding, to give him time.”

“You’re frustrated.”

“Fucking pissed,” she says and then snaps her mouth shut. “Sorry.”

He smiles. “It’s fine Ms. Miller.  My son seems to bring that out in people.”  He stands beside her by the window and they watch the horizon for a moment before he turns and takes her in again.  “You know, Ms. Miller, I’ve never taken you for a vain woman, and I have plenty of experience with vain women, you surprise me.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Unless you expect me to believe that you’re cold?”

“Do you mean the hat?” She glances around and pulls it off.  “It’s not the stitches,” she laughs.  “There have been paparazzi trying to get shots of Hyun or Jumin and I can’t really get a wig on with one hand.”  She pulls the hat back on.

“Intriguing,” Mr. Han watches her very carefully.  She’s never been alone with him, not without Jumin in the building, and never like this.

“I mean, I’m not saying I’m not vain,” she laughs again, nervous. “But the wigs are more of a security thing.  They keep Calliope the C&R Hostess, Callie Cannibal, and Callie the Mom all separate.”

“Are you recognized often?”

“It happens enough now, since your company invested in us, mostly with the wigs on.  Sometimes people stare at me without it, but they usually can’t figure out why I’m familiar.” She glances to the men building whatever Mr. Han has brought her when it hits her. “Wait, you thought a baby grand was excessive, but correct me if I’m wrong is that not a digital baby grand.”

“It seemed a more reasonable size for your current situation.”

She closes her eyes and breaths in through her nose.

“Do you not like it?  I’m afraid I had to rely on a salesmen.”

“Mr. Han that’s too much.  I appreciate it the thought but I just don’t think I can accept.”

“Nonsense, Ms. Miller, you need something practical to practice on, it’s an investment for your future with C&R, under your entertainment contract.  We don’t plan to abandon you.”

“Mr. Han—”

“I won’t be taking it back, don’t worry about the money Ms. Miller.  Will you be alright with these men in your room?  I have meetings this morning but I wanted to see your face when it was delivered.”

She smiles. “Thank you Mr. Han.  It’s a very considerate gift, you and Jumin both have a knack for getting me things I can’t refuse.”

“He’ll come around,” he says, looking out the window at the C&R building.  “In his own time.”  He takes her hand, gingerly giving her time to pull away if he’s made her uncomfortable.  “Whatever you are to each other you’ve been good for him.”

She pulls her hand away.  He knows, he doesn’t know the details but he’s aware that something more is happening between them.  She watches his face, the way he smiles down at her.  Mr. Chairman is no stranger to an unconventional romantic life but she wonders if he would be so understanding if he was fully aware of the situation.  Of course Jumin would never discuss his personal life with his father.

Mr. Han steps away from her then and runs a hand over the case with the Martin.  “Did he give you this?  It looks familiar.”

She nods.

His eyes fall on her violin case by the window.  “Do you play all of these?”

She nods again. “It’s been a long time for that though, doesn’t really go over as a party trick.  Rarely found in the wild, you know?”

He laughs.  “I’m sure you know Jumin played.”

She didn’t.  She knew he could read music, and he had an ear for it, but he’d never mentioned actually playing.  It had seemed beneath him somehow and she’d never even considered asking.  She opens her mouth to ask, something, anything but Mr. Chairman is already waving on his way out the door.

 


	29. Accidents and Recovery 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry this chapter is so late this week, there was a family emergency.

“Oh,” the nurse had said, “you’re in musicals too?”

And suddenly there was a distraction.  Suddenly the frustration of making her fingers work the strings of her guitar, or the keys of her piano seemed to be so much more worth it.  And Zen was there, every day while everyone else had their 9-5, or keeping Max from worrying about her, Zen of all people was there in her room smiling with a honey krueller and a latte, face still flushed from his morning workout.

And Zen was there beside her, smiling up, or smiling down when her stiff hands didn’t quite make the stretch to the next note, singing a little bit louder and moving forward, until laughing in her room one afternoon he’d struck up a few notes of Suddenly Seymore on her piano, and she was belting out her best Ellen Green impression.

“Uh,” Callie could feel her face hot and red, with the scar on her face she probably looked like an over ripe tomato. “I, uh.  No _I’m_ not.  Not for a really, _really_ , long time.  Like high school.  Long.”

Zen stifles a laugh.

“Well you sounded really nice,” she pauses when Zen and Callie both snort, her eyes narrow on Zen and Callie recognizes the look of a fan.  “Some of the children heard you singing Disney songs yesterday.”

“Oh!” Callie gasps.  “Oh wow, we didn’t mean to be that loud.”

“No, it’s not a problem, it’s just, well,” it seemed the nurse was losing her nerve and Callie smiled to see Zen swoop in.

“Don’t be shy,” Zen coos and Callie can see the girl clam up farther.

“Jesus Hyun, when they’re shy you should lay off the smoulder.  She’s going to have a fucking heart attack.”

“I swear if you knew my middle name I’d have to start calling you Mom.”

“Don’t even joke about that, I feel old enough right now without another Yoosung incident.”

“I’m sorry,” the nurse smiles again. “We’ve just, well Mr. Han left some very strict instructions and I don’t want cause any problems it’s just that—”

Jumin’s name invokes a sharp intake of breath.  It had been over a week and he still had not even called.

“Go on please,” Callie encourages, forcing herself to smile.  She fumbles with her guitar, still not able to get her arm above her head; her fingers are not quite cooperating with the strap.  Zen moves to help her and the nurse seems to find herself.

“I know you’ve been playing as part of your therapy, I just, well a few of us thought, but no one wanted to _bother you._ The children really enjoyed hearing you yesterday.”

Callie smiles. “You want to know if we’d sing to the children some time.”

“It was just a thought,” she adds.  “You don’t have to.”

Zen is already smiling wide behind the nurse and she knows he’s thinking about the publicity, singing for sick children, maybe even picturing what to wear to most look like a Disney Prince.

“You probably need it to look like our idea?”

She nods.

“Of course,” Zen chimes in.

“We’d love to, you should let someone know that we would love to start regularly singing in Pediatrics, even after I’m released.”

The nurse smiles, she thanks them, and Callie watches her almost swoon when Zen hugs her.  Zen with his stupid pony tail and his giant smile, looking at her like a puppy.  He strings a few notes together on the piano. 

“One of us is going to have to call C&R and make sure this doesn’t interfere with our contracts,” she says.

“You mean me, right?  Correct me if I’m wrong but he’s still not talking to you.”

“He talks to you, so I’m sure you know.  It doesn’t matter though, I can call Jaehee and find out who to call in legal.  Work something out.  I mean that’s basically all I’ll be doing for the network if I ever get out of here.”

“How are you so _nice_ to him?” Zen asks, he slumps into the chair next to her.

“I’m really not,” she looks at the C&R building on the horizon.  “But what’s the point in getting worked up about it?”

“Aren’t you mad?”

“I’m livid, but why call him angry, it’s what he wants.  He’s not ignoring me, he’s not being malicious.  I’m not going to give in to his self flagellation.”

“You’ve been nicer to me too,” he laughs.  “Maybe you really did hit your head.”

“Hyun, I never meant to be _mean_.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No you did,” she smiles at him. “It’s ok, I’m kind of short with you and I’m sorry.  You share some characteristics with my ex-husband.  The way you talk about yourself sometimes.  It was hard for me to get past but ultimately you are a much gentler person than T and my issues are not your fault.”

“That’s weirdly introspective, Callie.”

“Let’s pretend it’s the pain killers and not that you’re growing on me.”


	30. Accidents and Recovery 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that there was no update last week and that this weeks update is shorter than usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[I've written a NSFW piece of Callie and Jumin's first time, it takes place between chapter's 10 and 11 ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10658928)]

“You’re an idiot,” Searen growls at him from across the table.  “This is stupid, you should wait until she comes home.”

His brother was probably right, he was stupid and he should wait but this seemed like the perfect surprise, especially after meeting Wyatt. 

He looked around the bunker, two bedrooms and tiny kitchen, his room was just a bed behind a bookshelf that formed a makeshift wall.  She’d never complained, none of them had but this place had only ever really served as a secure workspace, not a family home.

Pulling her instruments from their shelf in his garage he remembered her talking about her first apartment, she deserved a place that was hers, somewhere she thought of as fondly as she’d recalled that apartment.  He didn’t think the bunker fit the bill.

Not that he intended to give it up.  It was still secure, perfect to work from no matter what he did now.  He’d already started to transition it to an office space in his mind.  They could share it, the three of them.  Saeren could have a workspace, and Callie could have a broadcasting room. But he had money saved, more than enough for a down payment.

So every night when Max was tucked in to bed he and Saeran would sit with their laptops and his brother would berate him while they looked for a place to call home.  The hard part had been keeping Max quiet. 

“You could probably get your boyfriend to help,” Searan grumbles.

He doesn’t respond.  He could ask Jumin for help but he was angry with him and Callie had made him promise not to yell at Jumin.  Could he call and ask this without getting angry.  They were close on their own without _his_ help, to finding _the_ place.  If Callie were here she’d be on the phone with Jumin arguing about agents and lawyers.

They’d gone to see 4 houses, none of them had been quite right.  The three of them could not say what was wrong about them, the rooms were all there but as Max had said, the rooms were in the wrong place.  It seemed as close as they could get to it.

“Where are you going,” Saeran looks at him skeptically over his laptop.

“We’re out of Doctor Pepper,” he shrugs.”

Saeran was right, he needed to call Jumin, but he wasn’t going to let Saeran know that.

 

*

 

“So have you gone to see Surana yet?” She asks him over the physiotherapists head.

He shrugs.  “I called her, but I think I’m going to wait until you’re going.”

“Hyun, are you afraid of her?” Callie laughs.

“N-No!  I mean she _is_ really intimidating but I just thought because it was your brother in law who set it up—”

“Surana has that effect on people.  It might be better if you go without me a few times though.  She takes some getting used to, and you’re kind of a beginner, I mean with her not with dance.”

“I don’t really have time for it between the gym, and rehearsals, and--”

“Here?”

He shrugs.

“I mean I appreciate you coming, but as long as you are here once or twice a week for the kids, I mean don’t put yourself out because of me.”

“It’s not that, I don’t mind.  Everyone is so busy right now, I’d hate for you to be stuck here alone all day.”

“Hyun,” she frowns.

The therapist stops them, she ushers him out of the room and tells him she’ll get him when they’re finished.  Callie watches his face, he looks relieved.

“I’m sorry,” the therapist says.  “But I need you to pay attention to this.”

Callie does as she’s told, she moves her arm, and resists the urge to shriek and lash out when the sadist in front of her forces her to move outside of her current range of motion, then the needles, another exercise in self restraint.  Finally the electrodes, she invites Zen back in the room and tells them she’ll be back for the machine shortly.

“Hey,” he chuckles setting a coffee down beside her.  “That’s a cool Frankenstein’s monster thing you’ve got going on.”

“Can I see your phone?”

He freezes.  “Where’s yours?”

“Plugged in by the bed, let me see yours.”

“I’ll get yours for you.”

“It’s still charging.  Just let me see your phone.”

“It’s not a problem, really,” he starts to stand back up.  “I’ll just get yours.”

“Hyun Ryu, let me see your phone,” she says in her Mom voice.

He sits down slowly and pulls his phone out of his pocket.  She watches him fumble with the lock screen and doesn’t miss that he’s deleting notifications.  “You know what you’re going to find.”

“I don’t care.”

“You do, you keep saying you do.”

“I don’t care that you’re _babysitting_ me for Jumin—”

“It’s only been a few days, and you told me, to try to be more understanding,” he says defensively.

“I’m not going though your texts, Hyun, I don’t care.  Everyone else here is reporting back to him, even my daughter, why not you too.”

“If you’re not, why did you need my phone?”

She ignores him and hits the call button.

“Callie,” he hisses.  “If you do this he won’t talk to anyone anymore, come on.”

“I’m done Zen,” she says as the phone starts ringing.

Zen starts pacing, muttering, his hands flying as he babbles to himself, but she ignores him.

“Hyun, what’s wrong.  Is she alright?  Did something happen with her therapy, or is it the new medication.”

For more than 10 days the only time she’d heard his voice was on his voicemail.  She hesitates, if she speaks now he could hang up, Zen is right, he won’t trust anyone else, and he’ll stop answering calls from everyone.

“Hyun?” Jumin says softly, less frantic than before.

She’s lost her nerve.  This isn’t what he needs, not the time she’d promised herself she’d give him.  She can feel the tears welling in her eyes and she tries to form words, or hang up.  She should give Hyun his phone back and never look at it again.

“Calliope?” Barely audible on the other end of the line.

“Jumin,” she whispers.  The phone is quiet and she thinks, for a moment, he may have hung up, but she can hear him breathing on the other end.  She can feel her resolve return.  “Jumin Han,” she says, stern, Mom voice in full force, “you have 30 minutes to get here or I will drag myself down to your office in my Johnny shirt on the back of Hyun’s motorcycle.”  She hangs up the phone and drops it into the chair next to her.

“You know,” Zen says when the therapist enters again a moment later. “I take the train here.”

She watches him pick his phone up and sit back down.  “Do you see me wearing a Johnny shirt?”

 


	31. Accidents and Recovery 11

By her count Jumin had called 25 minutes into her timer. 

“I’m incredibly sorry,” he sounds nervous.  “I have a meeting right now, I’ve been trying to move it but my father will be there and there is no way I can find—please do not come here, I promise I will come to see you this evening if I can, I am supposed to _also_ see my father for dinner, if I cannot postpone I will see you first thing in the morning.”

“Jumin.”

“I promise,” he almost shouts.

“Don’t cancel your evening with your father, call me afterwards and come see me in the morning.”

She feels better, just knowing that she will see him, hearing his voice, it eases something inside her.  Hyun lectures her so she sends him to Surana’s studio and calls Saeyoung.

“Babe,” he says when she tells him what happened; she can almost see him smiling.  “Do you want me to visit tonight?  Max has Judo, I could make some time.”

“Nah, you’ve got work to do.  It feels like a weight’s been lifted you know?  Plus I can shower by myself now, so I’ve got that going for me.”

He laughs.

Yoosung stops in after class with some books his mother suggested but he has plans on LOLOL and can’t stay.  Zen calls later, Surana refuses to call him by any actual names and constantly infantilizes him, Callie is not surprised.  Jaehee stops in on her way home from work, she brings takeout with her, she smiles and laughs and leaves to take Max to Judo.  She promises to send pictures.  Saeyoung texts her a photo of Jaehee picking Max up, and then a photo of himself in a sea of empty soda cans, and then a picture of Saeren in a blanket burrito playing an otome game on his phone.

She plugs her phone in and sits at the piano.  Everything is always more challenging after physio, she plays through some scales but after a few stumbling attempts she gives up.  She paces the room and goes to the cases she keeps at the window, her sticker covered Ukulele, the beautiful martin in its pristine case, she’d sent the teal Gibson home, and there on the window sill was the navy violin case. 

She runs a hand over it, ghosts of ancient sharpie doodles can barely be seen on the case, signatures, phrases, and one faded sticker that had once been holographic.  The charms on the handle clack against one another when she opens the case.  Had anyone cared for her while they were separated?

She takes the bow out of the case and she’s already tightened it before she even realizes it, she see’s tucked away in the case a jar of rosin and she runs it along the bow.  It’s been so long but it feels as if she’s never stopped.

 She lifts the violin out of the case, it smells the same, like Mrs. Lee’s music studio and that fruity body wash everyone used in high school.  She lifts the violin to her chin; it takes more effort than she’d like to admit to bring her bow arm high enough to draw across the strings.

She cringes, it’s out of tune, because of course it is, how long had Wyatt and Martin even had it?  She’d sold it 11 years ago.  She fiddles with the pegs, strums a string, and tries again. At the very least she can tune her before she puts her away.

A nurse brings her the next dose of pain killers and muscle relaxers, and she picks up one of the books Yoosung had brought her.  She grabs the plush blanket from home and curls up in the softest chair by the window to read, it will be late when Jumin calls.

Somewhere in the groggy dimness of her mind she thinks she hears her phone, she curses under her breath at having fallen asleep in the chair.  The sound is persistent, and decidedly not phone like.  She stifles a yawn and opens her eyes.

It takes her a minute, she’s still dumb with sleep but she recognizes Mozart’s violin concerto number 3, and the figure of Jumin illuminated by the lights of the city beyond her window.  His back is to her and she watches him pull the bow across the strings, soft and fluid, the violin sings out in a way she’d never been able to accomplish.

The lights in the room are out, not even the lamp she’d been reading by was left on and she wonders how long he’s been here with her, in the dark.  What had made him want to play?

She pulls the blanket tight around her shoulders and tries to stand quietly, she doesn’t want to startle him, doesn’t want him to stop but she desperately wants to be closer to him.  The chair lets out a groan when she stands and his head tilts towards her, he doesn’t look, doesn’t stop and she breathes a sigh of relief.

She reaches out tentative fingers, she needs to touch him, make sure he’s real and she can hear the way he jerks the bow when she makes contact but he continues to play.  Her hands reach around his waist, she’s making it difficult for him but she doesn’t care anymore, her face is pressed between his shoulders and he’s trapped inside the soft blanket with her while he finishes playing the song.

He puts the violin back in its case, and she listens to the soft plastic clack of the charms on the handle, the snap of the clasps.

“What happened to dinner with Mr. Chairman?” She says into the fabric of his waistcoat

He turns around then, her arms still holding the blanket around him.  “He insisted I come here instead, but you were sleeping, and I’m not sure why but when I saw your violin I felt as if I had to play it.  I hope I didn’t wake you.”

She smiles.  “No, it’s ok, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“Never the less, you should sit down.”  He looks worried, she wobbles, knees weak from being sat on.

She sits heavily in one of the window chairs and he kneels in front of her, he takes her injured hand in his and she squeezes his fingers. “Still works, it just has trouble listening sometimes.”

“Like Saeyoung,” he says with a small smile, his fingers traveling up her arm.

“Is it a dangerous arm?” She laughs.

He chuckles and gently lets her arm rest in her lap.  He touches her face where the bruise has faded to yellow; he slides the strap of her tank top off her shoulder and runs his thumb over her surgical scar, his hand hovers over the stitches on her face.  “I did this.”

“No you didn’t,” she sighs.

“I did,” he says softly and kisses her forehead by the stitches.  “My tie pin caused this.”

“What?” She says a little stunned.  “I mean, really?  It was kind of a mystery.”

“I think so, when I examined my things from that night, it seemed _likely_.”

“Gross,” she laughs.  “You know your Dad came to see me.”

“I am _aware_.”

“You don’t like that your father is fond of me, do you?”

“I am _indifferent_ , what I do not like is when my father attempts to manipulate me into behaving the way he would behave.”

“You mean he thought if he brought me a ridiculous gift and visited me in the hospital you would feel obligated to do the same.”

“It is ridiculous isn’t it?  But you seem to appreciate it.”

“He was very clear that I didn’t have a choice in the matter so I’ve embraced it.  He said your injuries we’re similar to mine, and Zen said your arm was kind of messed up, so come on.  I’ve shown you mine, it’s your turn.”

“There was a sprain in my wrist, it was quite minor.”

She touches his face. “We had matching bruises, Mr. Han.”

“We were thrown against one another,” he says almost scolding her for her tone.  He rolls up his sleeve, pink skin puckers around black scabs in patches from his wrist up past his elbow.

“Jumin,” she says softly and slides off her chair onto the floor where he’s kneeling.  “Why didn’t you come sooner?”

“I couldn’t,” he whispers.

“Jumin.”

“I was selfish, and you were hurt.  I don’t deserve this understanding you seem to have.”

“How were you selfish, we were hit by some kid, it was an accident; no one was at fault except the rain.”

“I was jealous, and I wanted you to myself just once before we left, if I hadn’t— If I’d let go of your hand, if I hadn’t tried to kiss you.”

“Jumin, none of those things caused the accident, it happened so fast. It’s not like you knew we were going to get hit, and I could have been just as hurt in the car.”

“But you were not in the car.”

“Jumin, this isn’t as bad as you seem to think it is.  This injury?  I’ve dealt with this before.  I mean this is as bad as it’s ever been but I’m already through the worst part.  I’ve done all of this before.  They’ve never had to go in and reattach anything but my range of motion is twice what they expected.  I could do the physio exercises in my sleep.”

“That is not how your charts read, Calliope,” he frowns.

“Of course not, because none of these doctors have any access to my medical history, it’s all with my doctor in the states still.  Of course it looks grim but I shouldn’t even be able to play more than chopsticks.  I mean it’s not perfect, my fingers respond slowly, and I still can’t lift my arm very high, but I’d be at home if everyone wasn’t afraid of you.”

“You what?”

“You heard me,” she frowns.  “If you weren’t demanding reports and insisting I’m made of glass I could be home.”

He laughs.  “I’ve made sure you had a very comfortable room and I do get reports but I’ve not asked anyone to presume that you’re fragile.”

She does not laugh.  “It’s not Saeyoung, not that I’d put it past him, but that one doctor specifically said that they had orders not to let me discharge myself and Saeyoung would have been in the server adjusting my files not threatening doctors.” She stands and walks across the room, sits at the piano, and frowns into her sheet music.

He follows her, his laugher deepens.  “You don’t think,” he chokes out before he starts laughing again.

“Don’t think what?”

He manages to get control of himself.  “You did say my father is rather fond of you.”

“No,” she says hands dropping to the keyboard with an ominous sound.  “No, I mean really your Dad is threatening my doctors? That can’t be right.”


	32. Accidents and Recovery 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There were some comments on the last chapter expressing disappointment in Callie and Jumin’s reunion so I did some editing to this chapter to hopefully rectify that. Thanks for the feedback guys.

He’s not sure when he fell asleep or why no one woke him.  He is certain he should not have been allowed to stay.  He can’t complain, he has not slept well since the accident, and even before with the excitement and stress of the party.  It certainly feels like the first time he’s slept in a month.

The room is still relatively dark, the curtains mostly pulled shut.  He remembers the nurse coming in late with a final dose of her medications and helping her back into her brace, sitting on the bed beside her while she explained exactly how familiar this recovery was, checking his emails from his phone while she read.  He’d intended to leave once she fell asleep, to come back in the morning.

There’s music playing softly from somewhere in the room and he can hear her moving. Glancing around he sees her by the window, the chairs slid away from their usual positions leaving the floor open.  He watches her as she stretches raising her leg up and resting her heel on the high window sill in front of her. 

She hasn’t noticed that he’s awake and she’s still in the brace, she leans forward and holds, he can hear her counting under her breath.  She turns to the side, still facing away from him and does the same, leans into the leg, holds, counts, then she leans away from the leg her free hand touching the floor, she counts, then up and forward, free hand braced on the floor again.

She switches legs, and starts again, this time she has no free hand to brace herself and he finds himself holding his breath when she stretches away.  He had never seen her do anything like this before, he was aware she’d been a dancer when she was younger but she’d described her skill as somewhat lacking and to Jumin this seemed somewhat more, considering as far as he was aware she had not danced for many years before their arrangement.

She’s sweating and he wonders when she got up, when she started, how long she’d been like this, but the door swings open and Hyun is already scolding her.

“You’re going to hurt yourself again, god Callie.”

She shushes him.  “It’s fine.”

“It is not fine,” he thrusts a paper cup at her.

“My balance is fine, my arabesque is weak, my extensions are sloppy, you think Surana is scary now wait until she sees how out of shape I am.”  She takes the coffee and sets it on the table.  “Come here, at least help me.”  She lifts one foot and points her toes at him.

“What am I supposed to do with that?” He asks frowning.

“Force that fucker up, I’ll tell you when to stop.”

“I don’t think I’m qualified for that.”

“Is that what you say to the pretty girls at rehearsals?”

“No,” he says and sits down.  “Not until the nurse comes back and takes the brace off.”

Jumin swings his legs off the bed.

“Sleeping beauty is awake,” Zen snorts.

She turns as he approaches him and tries the same on him.  “You’ll lend a hand right?”

He takes her calf in his hand and runs his fingers to her heel, slipping the slipper off her foot.  “I’m afraid I have to agree with Hyun.”

“Ugh,” she and Zen groan in unison.

She takes a sip of the coffee Zen’s brought her and hands it to Jumin.  “Well that sucks because they’re not going to take it off today.”

“Is there something wrong,” Jumin asks.

“No, the PT just wants me to take a day off and she doesn’t trust that I’ll rest it enough so I get to wear the punishment sleeve.” She sits heavily in the chair across from Zen and slips the other slipper off.

“I brought that coffee for Callie,” Zen frowns.

“Jaehee will be here soon with real coffee don’t worry about it,” Callie chuckles.

“He doesn’t even like coffee.” Zen complains.

 “Exactly he has no idea how bad that is.”

Jumin shrugs.  “Does Assistant Kang visit you often?”

“Every few days, but I asked her to make sure Elizabeth was fed and bring you a change of clothes.”

Zen snorts.  “I hope she’s getting paid for that.”

“Are you getting paid to be here Hyun?” Her eyes narrow and both he and Jumin have the good sense to look embarrassed.  “Saeyoung is busy, she’s the only other person I know with a key.”

“What are we going to do about the children?” Zen asks, changing the subject.

She shrugs one shoulder.  “I can’t play but we could always just sing to them.  I don’t want to cancel.”

“Even smelling the way you do?” Zen makes a face at her.

She throws a book at him and he catches it easily.  “I have to wait for a nurse to shower, _again.”_ She pouts.  “I finally had the freedom to shower alone and I squandered it.

“I could help,” Jumin says quietly, sipping from the paper coffee cup.

Zen’s blushes.  “You can what?”

“If you have sheet music,” he clarifies.  “I could probably play sufficiently to entertain children.”

There’s a quiet moment where Callie smiles at him and Zen tries to think of some other solution, the two of them can practically hear the wheels in turning in his head. 

Callie snaps her fingers and points and Jumin snorts a small laugh when Zen turns to gather her phone from beside the bed.  Zen’s eyes narrow and he opens his mouth to say something when Callie holds up her hand and frowns. “ _You_ don’t get to give him shit for that, Jumin.”

She doesn’t look at him when she says it, she unlocks her phone and thumbs through it, brows knit together in concentration.  Jumin’s shoulders fall a little for a moment and he pulls one of the chairs closer to her.  The way Jumin reaches for her hand and pulls back doesn’t escape Zen’s notice, he’s forgotten in the moment that she only has that hand.  He settles his hand awkwardly on her thigh.

It’s not long before Jaehee opens the door; Callie and Zen jump up to help her with the coffee and clothing and another look passes between Jumin and Callie. 

Zen’s phone chimes and he nods at Callie.  “I’ll be right back with these.”

Jaehee frowns between the two of them for a moment. “I assume you will be late for your meeting this morning?”

Jumin averts his eyes.  “You are familiar with the material we’re to cover this morning perhaps you cou—”

“Jumin,” Callie interrupts him, the pitch of her voice is slightly off, “you need to go to your meeting, you know Jaehee gets enough shit when she goes in prepared, let alone—”

“Assistant Kang is perfectly capable,” he says, his jaw set as he reaches out for her hand.

“I know she is,” Callie’s voice pitches a little higher and she tangles her fingers with his.  “But it’s unnecessary; I thought you were trying to be more considerate?” She cocks her head and frowns at him.

Jumin makes a noise in the back of his throat and Callie can almost hear his teeth grind as he looks between her and Jaehee.

Callie breathes out heavily through her nose and turns to her friend.  “He’ll be there, Babe, maybe a few minutes late but he _will_ ,” she squeezes his hand, “be at the meeting.”

Jumin exhales, he stares at Callie a moment and then turns to his assistant.  “You will need to clear my afternoon, I intend to leave directly after the meeting, do you have a car waiting,” he doesn’t wait for an answer, “I will be out in a moment, we will travel there together.”

Jaehee shrugs, she takes her coffee and turns to leave.  Catching Zen at the door and placing the papers he’s holding on the table by Callie’s bed before leading him out of the room with her.

“I shouldn’t leave,” Jumin says softly.  His jaw is still set in a harsh line and he doesn’t look at her.  They stand in the middle of the room hand in hand with sour looks on their faces in silence for a moment.

“You need to go to work,” she says, trying to be firm but her voice maintains that strained pitch.

“I have wasted enough time with work, I need to be _here_.” He squeezes her hand and turns to her but she doesn’t look.

“Yes,” she sighs, “you have.”

He swallows.

“But,” she follows, “there’s already paparazzi in the halls, there are already articles about Saeyoung and I comparing you to your father. So you _need_ to go to work.”

“I don’t _care_ ,” he says, his voice shaking slightly he pulls her against him and wraps his arms around her.

She holds her breath for a moment, the sudden jerk of her body into his jarring her injured shoulder.  “You should care,” she says wrapping her good arm around him.  “I care, Max cares. Do you think her father won’t mention it?  Do you think the teachers at her school, or the parents of her friends don’t see those things?”

He holds her tighter. “You’ve never been bothered before, I don’t want to be apart from you right now.”

Callie holds him tighter. “Jumin please, I,” she stops and sighs, “I respect that you were afraid, and I respect that you needed time, but you made that choice.  I don’t want you to leave either b—”

“Then I will tell Assistant Kang to go on without me,” he says firmly.

“No, you’re going to go right now.  The music is on the table, you can look over it in the car but it’s nothing exceptionally difficult.  I’ll see you this afternoon, Saeyoung will be by with Max this evening.  _Let things be normal again_.”

“You should come along then,” he says.

“You should talk to your father about that,” she smiles and brushes his hair out of his face.  “You need to change,  Jaehee is still waiting for you.”

Jumin lets her go reluctantly and changes his clothes, she does her best to help him, fumbling with his cufflinks and buttoning his waistcoat, he smoothes out her hair and presses a lingering kiss to the corner of her mouth.

Zen is back the moment Jumin is out the door, she’s already in a chair, her knees drawn up, her face set.  She doesn’t make eye contact with him when he sits down across from her. “Do you need a minute?  Do you want me to go?”

Callie shakes her head. “He’s coming back.”

Zen can’t help but notice the relief in those words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> totally didn't realize it was monday yesterday, oops.


	33. Accidents and Recovery 13

He has to wonder if he made this worse.  It’s been a day or two since Callie broke and called Jumin out and the three of them are sitting in her room with Max, he can’t help but feel bad every time he watches Jumin reach out and touch her.  Soft and tentative, as often as he thinks he can get away with, just simple innocent touches. 

He watches him brush her hair over her shoulder, the way his finger tips barely rest on her elbow as he moves past her in the room, the way he completely avoids any eye-contact with Saeyoung.  It was always possible that the threat of photographers at any moment could be behind his cautious approach to their reunion but Saeyoung had his doubts.

He’d understood at first, he knew how much he’d blamed himself and he knew how much Jumin took on himself.  Callie had been right when she’d told him that Jumin feels too much, so he’d let it be.  There had been so much going on, between the hospital and keeping Max too busy to worry that he’d simply not had time to take those calls.

But then days had gone by, and he’d watched her make excuses to everyone, and listened to her in the night when the pain killers couldn’t keep up and she couldn’t sleep and he just _couldn’t_ talk to him.  He didn’t trust himself not to say something awful, and he’d promised her he wouldn’t push Jumin.  It was easier not to talk to him.  He’d started letting Max answer when he saw Jumin’s name on his caller ID and leaving the room.

“Did you talk to the Chief?” Callie asks Jumin while she stretches.

Jumin has Max by the arms as she playfully fights to escape, bored of the hospital room already, she’s escaped the room in an attempt to explore twice now.

“He is pretending he doesn’t know what I’m talking about.” He grunts wrapping his arms around Max’s waist as she struggles and kicks.

“Max, calm down,” Callie scolds while the girl squeals and growls in Jumins arms.

Jumin’s smiling, Saeyoung notes as he considers calling Saeran and asking him to come get Max.

“We’re gonna fight,” Max growls as Jumin throws her over his shoulder. 

“You’re not,” Callie says firmly.

“He’s gonna fight me!” She squeals slapping her palms on his back.

Jumin is laughing and starts to swing her around but Callie catches him by the shoulders and pulls Max off of him and holds her under her good arm.  “No one is fighting you.  You need to settle down, this is a hospital Max.”

“I’m bored,” the girl whines at her mother.

Callie locks eyes with him. “I’ll call Saeran,” he nods stepping out of the room.

“There’s no fucking way,” Saeran snorts into the phone.  “You’ve got construction guys here; if I leave Yoosung alone with them we’ll be fucked.”

“Then send Yoosung,” Saeyoung says.

“Yeah?  Which car are you going to let him drive?”

“Shit,” keeping straight the Bunker and the new house was getting to be an issue.  He’d forgotten there were going to be workers at the house and it would take Yoosung an hour to get to them on the bus.  “I’ll bring her to you, she’s a maniac right now.”

He hadn’t realized he’d been pacing until he hangs up and turns to walk back to the room, he’s made it all the way to the nurses’ station at the end of the hall.  He sees one of the familiar nurses leaving the room, they nod at each other as he passes. 

Callie is back in her brace, sitting cross legged on her bed frowning at Max who sits very quiet on a chair near Jumin.

“What did I miss?” He asks, turning to Max.  “You don’t look so much like fighting anymore.”

“Is your brother coming to get her?” Callie asks, trying not to sound as irritated as she looks.

“I’m sorry Mom,” Max whispers.

Saeyoung looks at Jumin who shakes his head.  “He can’t right now, he’s busy with Yoosung, I’m going to take her to them. What happened?”

Callie sighs.  “It’s not a big deal, she was just a little too rough and Jumin involved the nurses an—”

“We _all_ got in trouble,” Max finishes folding her arms across her chest and glaring at Jumin.

“I am not going to apologise because I spoke with a nurse,” Jumin frowns, and Saeyoung almost laughs, he can picture a small boy in a suit arguing with his classmates.  “We are all a fault, Max.  Your mother is still delicate.”

“The hell I am,” Callie yawns.  “They made me wear the brace and gave me something to make sure I didn’t make anything worse.”

He pushes her hair back and kisses her forehead with a loud sucking sound.  “I should be back in less than an hour,” he tells her, “I’m just going to slow down and shove Max out of the car as I drive by, I’ll pick up something to eat on the way back.”

Callie laughs and shoves him away with her good arm.  “Something deep-fried, with absolutely zero vegetables, unless they are also deep fried and then I might consider it.”

He laughs and turns to Jumin.  “Will you still be here, do you want something?”

“He’s going with you,” Callie says firmly and Saeyoung knows she’s not going to listen to either of them argue.  He knows exactly what she’s doing.

They’ve dropped Max off before they speak to one another.  Small talk at first and Saeyoung can see that he’s trying to act as though nothing has happened.  Callie is better at this than him, better at forgiveness, better at moving on. 

He tries, tries to let it go, tries to focus on the small talk Jumin is forcing himself to make, tries to channel Callie and her never ending understanding. But the best he can do is try not to be mean.

“You know this has been really hard on her,” he says softly when they’ve gotten back in his car with bags of take out.

Jumin turns away and looks out the window.  “I know, she called me every day.  I am well aware that I handled it poorly.”

“You didn’t just _handle it poorly_ , you didn’t handle it at all,” Saeyoung says exasperated.

“I couldn’t,” Jumin snaps. 

“Neither could I but I was still there,” he says through gritted teeth.

“I tried,” Jumin’s voice is low, he stares ahead with his jaw set.  “I picked up the phone, I even went to the hospital more than once, but I couldn’t.”

“You couldn’t what?  Think of someone else?”

“That’s not what this was about.”

“Do you know how much effort she puts into everyone else?” Saeyoung’s voice shakes, he’s barely keeping himself from yelling.  _It’s done now_ , he thinks, justifying this to himself.  Jumin is back and he can’t scare him away.  “She was in the hospital, she had surgery and you couldn’t even call her.  You couldn’t answer your phone, there were days when no one heard from you, _she_ is in the hospital and she was worried about _you_.”

“I didn’t deserve it,” he says quietly.  “I should have let her go, she was coming home with me regardless.  I should have left her with you in the van not held on like some love sick child.  I couldn’t— I didn’t deserve to see her forgive me for that, I couldn’t look at her without—”

“You couldn’t get over yourself for a minute and think about her, think about me?” Saeyoung shouts.

Jumin is quiet when he turns to look at him for the first time since the conversation began; he lays his hand over Saeyoung’s on the gearshift and squeezes. “I’m sorry.”

“That’s it,” he snorts, “that’s all you have?”

“I’m selfish,” Jumin says quietly, “When I try not to be, I do it _wrong_.  It gets tangled up with everything else, I thought,” he lets go of Saeyoung’s hand, “I thought that if I didn’t go, that you would move on without me.  I thought it would be best.”

“You’re an idiot,” Saeyoung sighs.  “You don’t get to decide that, you don’t get to decide what’s best for everyone else.  Look where that got V.”

“I don’t know how to be any other way,” Jumin whispers and Saeyoung knows he’s gone too far.  He didn’t need to bring up V.  Not like this.

“Bullshit,” he snorts trying to pull it back.  “We’re not C&R, or the RFA, we’re people and _we love you_ , and you don’t get to decide that stops because something fucked up happens.”

“I didn’t _want_ to,” Jumin says sharply, “it seemed as though I had to, it seemed like the appropriate thing to do.”

Saeyoung has never been more thankful for his Baby’s tinted windows as he is in this moment, parked in the hospital’s parking garage, arguing with Jumin.  He grabs him by the collar and yanks him towards him over the arm rest.  He watches Jumin’s eyes go wide and then the acceptance as Jumin braces for whatever is about to happen next.

He doesn’t expect Saeyoung to kiss him, doesn’t expect the slight smile against his lips when he lets out a small noise of shock, he raises a hand to cup Saeyoung’s cheek and he turns just enough to kiss Jumin’s palm, he presses their foreheads together for a moment before letting go of Jumin’s collar and settling back in his seat.

“You can’t do that again,” Saeyoung says, “I don’t care if there is irrefutable evidence that it’s all you fault you have to pick up the phone, you have to talk to us.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special shoutout to Kitsydemon and coralfaire who's comments had me rethink some of the stuff in this arc and lead to the existence of this chapter. I always appreciate you comments, they pull me out of my tunnel vision.


	34. Accidents and Recovery 14

“Could you teach me the song you sing to Max?” The first time he asked was a few days into her stay at the hospital.  Saeren had come in alone and waited until Zen left, sitting quietly by the window on his phone for over an hour.

“Which one,” the first day she didn’t catch on.

“You know, the one you sing her when she’s mad, I just thought it might help her when she’s having a bad day,” he shrugs and his sweater falls off his shoulder.

“Yeah sure,” she smiles.  “I can’t guarantee it won’t be slow.”

“No, it’s ok, you don’t have to if it’s too hard,” he blushes.

He sits with her by the keyboard and she shows him the notes slowly at first.  She’s not surprised with how quickly he picks it up just from watching her hand movements.  He plays along with her from a few octaves below, he already knows the words.  He’s basically gotten it down by the time Jaehee gets there with coffee and pastries.  He stands and leaves, abruptly, blushing brightly as he dashes past her out the door.

She’s suspicious when he shows up a few days later asking about another song.  “You know the one you two sing a lot it’s like,” he hums a few bars, his eyes are scrunched shut and his cheeks are red.  “You sing it to shut up Saeyoung sometimes.”

“I guess I could teach you the chords,” she says thoughtfully.  “Why do you want to learn it?”

He doesn’t look her in the eye.  “I don’t know, I just thought it might help Max, familiar routine or whatever.”

She points to the brace on her arm.  “You’ll have to do all the work though, I can’t play today.”

He nods and she gets out her Martin for him.  It’s slower going without her being able to demonstrate, she shows him the fingering first, ends up looking up charts to help, she’s never been a particularly good teacher.  She has to teach him the words this time.  He practically throws the guitar at her when Zen comes in.

“Do you miss having me around making noise?” She laughs the third time he asks.

He clutches the sticker covered child’s guitar and doesn’t look at her. “No, it’s not that.”

“Oh,” she says and shrugs one arm.  She pulls out her Martin.  “So what do you want to learn today?”

“It’s uh, it’s a duet but I’ve heard you play it before.”  He sits down on the floor and strums a few bars.

“The one I played at the military banquet?” She asks a little impressed at how close he’d gotten.

He nods.

“You know you’re pretty good at this, you probably don’t need _me_ to teach you.”  She sits on the floor in front of him.

“I, I uh, like it when you teach me.  It’s nice,” he doesn’t look at her but she can see him smiling.

She teaches him, he’s already figured out most of it and it goes pretty quickly.  They’re playing the duet in no time and he even finishes it when Yoosung comes in and sits in one of the chairs.  When they finish Yoosung claps and Saeren practically runs out of the room.

Jumin is sitting with her when the phone rings.  “I need your help,” Saeyoung says, and she can hear the edge of panic in his voice.

“Is it Max?” She asks, instantly assuming the worst.

Jumin sits up.

“No, no.  She’s playing Pokemon Go with Yoosung.” He tells her and she breathes a sigh of relief.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh you know, it’s not much, it’d be nothing if you were here, but you’re not so—”

“Calm down, get to the point.”

“Saeren’s doctor is _trying something_ with his meds and with everything going on, he said he was ok, but he had a bad day yesterday and this morning wasn’t great and he won’t come out of his room.”

“You’re a mess without me,” she laughs a little but the way he sighs on the other end of the line makes her stop.  “How bad was yesterday?”

She can almost see the way he’s probably pushing his glasses up his nose. “I didn’t notice until it was too late, I thought he was just, you know, grumpy.”

“ _Saeyoung_ ,” she scolds.  His tendency to hyper-focus on whatever he was doing often led to him missing all the signs of Saeran’s episodes.

“I know, I should have been paying more attention with everything going on but he kept saying he was fine.”

“He _always_ says he’s fine.”

“I _know,”_ he groans.

“Do you think—”

“No, I mean it’s not impossible but I don’t think, he just, he usually talks to you and he won’t even answer me and I don’t know, I wish you were _home_.”

Jumin mouths the words _his brother_ and cocks an eyebrow, she nods.

“Jumin help me take this brace off,” she starts peeling at the Velcro she can reach.  “Saeyoung give me a second, do you think you can get your phone through the speakers in the bunker so he can hear me? Jumin help me with this thing.”

“Your doctor said you had to wear it all afternoon _at least_ if you wanted it off tomorrow,” he scolds.

“ _Not the time_ , I’ll put it right back on.”

Jumin shakes his head and helps her.

“What are you doing?” Saeyoung asks.

“You can make it so he can hear me right?” She asks.

“Yeah I guess, but don’t hurt yourself, Babe.”

“I’m ok,” she says and stretches her arm.  She points to the case by the window and Jumin lets out a long suffering sigh but he brings her the guitar.  She puts her phone on speaker and waits.

“Got it,” Saeyoung says.

She starts to play, the last song he’d asked to learn. She strums the harmony and starts to sing.  She’s not sure if it’ll help, if he’ll open the door.

“When did he—” she hears Saeyoung mumble through the echo of her playing on the speaker.  Faintly she can hear another guitar beyond the echo and when the song is over she sets her guitar aside and let’s Jumin strap her back into the brace.

There’s a shuffling on the other end, soft sounds like someone starting to speak and then the clear sound of a door slamming shut.

“When are you coming home?” it’s Saeren’s voice on the other side of the phone.

She takes it off speaker. “Soon.”

“Good.”

*

It’s late when her phone rings.  She’s still awake, nervous and excited for the next day she’s been trying to sleep for hours and given up.  She’d worry if she hadn’t been chatting with Jumin and Saeyoung already.  Her mood falls when she sees the caller ID.

“Do you even know what time it is?” She asks, she’s gone from wide awake to exhausted in the time it took to accept the call.

“It’s 10am what are you still asleep like some kind of princess?” Toby barks into the phone.

“You’re aware time zones are a thing right?” She can feel a headache starting and she misses the button the sent a burst of pain killers directly into her bloodstream. “It’s 1am, and I’m in the fucking hospital so why the hell shouldn’t I get to sleep?”

“Whatever Amy, where is Max, if you’re in the Hospital who the hell is watching her?”

 _Fuck_ , she’d hoped with more than two weeks passing that she was out of the woods for this bullshit.  “She’s at home, with Luciel and Saeren.  She comes to see me almost every day, she is fine.”

“Then why can’t I get a hold of her?”

“What do you mean?” She knew Max hadn’t been talking to T, Max had told her she hadn’t spoken to her Dad last time she’d asked but Callie had assumed that it was the usual, that T hadn’t called.

“Did you tell your child bride not to answer the phone when I call?” He demands.

“Did I what?” She’s confused.  “I didn’t tell Luciel anything, what?  You don’t even have his number why would he answer the phone?”

“Well no one answers when I call, Amy.”

“You’re calling Max’s phone, T.  If you’re not getting an answer then she’s choosing to ignore your calls, or she doesn’t recognize your number?”  She’s genuinely curious now.  Max and her father had their own set of relationship hurdles but Max had always ultimately loved him and had always seemed excited to see or talk to him as rarely as it happened.

“What did you say to her, Amy?”

“I didn’t _say anything_ , T.  I don’t talk about you like that, you’re her father.”  She’s quiet for a minute.  “Did _you_ say something?”

“Did I what?” He says and she can hear his voice change.

She braces for a fight.  “Listen I do my best not to talk about you where she can hear, and I will talk to her the second I get a chance to make sure I didn’t say something that made her not want to talk to you o—”

“And what about the preschoolers you’ve got hanging around.”

“If one of my friends has said something I will handle it.”

“You’ll _handle_ it?”

“T, you need to consider that this might be something you said.”

“Fuck you.”

“Yeah ok, but I’m sure if you try you can think of a few situations where you might have said something that made her upset.  I’m not trying to be an asshole, man.  I’m trying to help you; I know she came home from your place upset a few times, I just think you should consider—”

“She’s smarter than that,” he says, defensive.

“She’s smarter than you give her credit for,” Callie shoots back, “and she’s nine now, T, you need to consider that she has her own opinions and respect them.”

“You can’t keep me from talking to my daughter.”

“I’ll talk to her, but if she doesn’t want to talk to you I can’t force her to.”

“That’s not good enough!”

“You know her email, you know her social media accounts, and there are other ways to get your point across. When I get a chance to have this discussion with her I will email you and let you know what she says.”

“Bullshit!”

“She’s a person T, not a doll.  You need to respect her feelings.”

The line goes dead.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just because I know I've been unclear on a timeline for this fic we are now reaching roughly a bit more than a year and a half after the first party. I just want to clarify that as this arc winds down because it's relevant to the next arc I might make a timeline post on my [tumblr ](https://botany-enthused-vampire.tumblr.com/)


	35. Accidents and Recovery 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're finally coming to the end of the hospital arc!

Callie is dressed, packed, and sitting on the edge of the bed with her arm in the brace talking to Jumin when Zen slips in the door.  She doesn’t miss the way he shoves his hands in his pockets.

“Going somewhere?” He asks.

“Home,” she answers.

“No,” Jumin says at the same time.

Callie frowns at Jumin.  “Says you.”

“You will not let me talk to my father about this—”

“The Chief can do whatever he wants when you’re in the hospital but he can’t keep me here.  I should have been out a week ago, this is stupid and a waste of resources.”  She puts up a hand before Jumin can respond.  “Besides, I have total confidence I could talk your Dad into almost anything.”

Jumin covers his face with his hands and Zen is almost certain he hears him growl.  Callie laughs.

“Hyun,” she says, in the tone he associates with teasing now, “you’re here early, what happened to rehearsal?”

“Oh,” he says and he glances at his feet for a moment.  “They went with someone else.”

Jumin and Callie look at one another and back to him.  “No, I don’t think _they_ did.” Jumin frowns.

“Show me your hands,” she says, tone no longer teasing, she’s using her Mom-Voice.

“No, that’s ok,” Zen says.

“Hyun Ryu,” she starts and his hands are out of his pockets.  “Who did you hit?” She asks running her thumb over his swollen knuckles.

“It was stupid,” he says not looking her in the eye.

“Probably,” she says as Jumin leaves the room.  “But it never seems like it in the moment.  What happened?”

Zen groans.

“Hey it was enough to lose you a role, you might as well tell me about it.”

“I hit the director,” he mumbles as Jumin comes back with a tumbler of ice.  “I think I maybe broke his nose.”

“Christ,” Jumin says.  He pulls a disposable glove from one of the supply drawers, dumps some of the ice into it, ties it off and hands it to Callie.  “Did he suggest you wear a cat costume?”

“Ha ha.” Zen rolls his eyes.

Callie presses the ice filled glove to Zen’s swollen knuckles. “So why’d you do it.”

“Because he’s an impulsive child,” Jumin snorts.

“God, it’s your fault anyway, why are you such a jerk?”

Callie and Jumin both freeze.  “What?” Callie manages to spit out.

Zen takes the glove from her and holds it on his knuckles himself.  “He had one of those stupid tabloid magazines, and he was talking to his assistant and he said some, ugh, he said some _stuff_ , and I just, ugh.”

“You broke a man’s nose, because he said something _mean_ about me?” Jumin asks. “You are aware that you say terrible things to me quite regularly?”

“It wasn’t just you, it was about the accident and he didn’t just say _a mean thing_ , I’m not a toddler, God.  He said that you and Callie should have just died because,” he stammers for a minute.  “He called Callie some horrible names because the article suggested you guys were, _you know_ , behind Seven’s back.”

Jumin and Callie are quiet for a while.  Callie’s phone vibrates but she doesn’t reach for it.  “You know,” she starts, “he’s not the first person to say things like that, he won’t be the last.”

“He sounds like an idiot,” Jumin adds.  “But you were right; it was stupid to hit him.”

“God,” Zen groans.

Callie picks up her phone. “Shit.”

“What?” Jumin and Zen ask.

“Well, I was going to say it’s not a big deal but apparently Martin knows this guy and he’s pissed, he’s trying to blacklist you.”

“Oh my god,” Zen falls into one of the window chairs.

Jumin begins to fiddle with his phone while Callie seems to be still talking with Martin.  His heart is pounding and he can’t quite remember how to breathe. 

Callie’s phone rings.  “Yeah yeah,” she says. “No I get it, you’re 100 years old.  Nope, yeah he’s still here.  Yeah.  Yeah.  No.  Okay so, yeah, and then we’ll, exactly.  No, no, I understand.  No, totally.  Yeah we can cover it.  Fuck ‘em.”

Her smile is weirdly disconcerting.

Jumin frowns at his phone. “I’ve spoken with PR, this isn’t really covered under your contract but they are going to make an attempt—”

Callie is pulling her sweater off around the brace; she sweeps her hair to one side and uses a damp napkin to smudge the makeup she’s wearing to cover her yellowed bruise.  “I think I can help, you think you can look repentant, Killer?”

“What?” Zen shakes his head confused.

“We can throw out a quick video in your defense, this director is apparently a huge shit and Martin is pretty sure if we can look pathetic enough it’ll turn around on him.”

She hands Jumin her phone and pats the edge of the bed until Zen sits beside her.  He points to them and she starts talking.  Zen is almost amazed; he tries to keep his face neutral, his eyes downcast.

“I know you thought you’d get a good news update about the stream today,” she starts, “but I have something a little different for you.  If you found me through Zen’s fan club you’ve probably heard about what’s happened today and I just wanted to apologise. 

“We’ll start with; yes, I am still in the hospital,” she tucks a few fallen strands of hair behind her ear so that they can see the full length of her scar. “Listen today a director talked some shit about me and Zen lashed out.  It was wrong, I’m sorry he felt that he needed to defend me, and I’m sorry we haven’t been able to stop the tabloids, this is really unfortunate and I hope that perhaps you guys can help us fix this.”

She looks at Zen, her big orange eyes are watering and she looks like she genuinely thinks she did something wrong, he responds instinctually. “It’s my fault, Cal, not you.” He takes her free hand in his swollen one.  “I was unprofessional, I should have kept my personal feelings in control and I was wrong to hit him but when he said he thought you should have died I just, ugh, I just didn’t think.  If he’s watching I am truly sorry, the image on his magazine reminded me of that night and when he spoke I just remembered them putting you in the ambulance and no one knew what was going on,” he touches the brace carefully and she smiles at him.  They both look like they might cry.

“I don’t know if he’ll see this,” Callie adds, “but I hope he does and I hope he knows we’re both truly sorry.  A lot of things are said about my relationship with Director Han, and like I’ve said before we are simply good friends, and it’s unfortunate that the tabloids feel the need to edit my fiancé out of many of the images of us,” she touches her shoulder to Zen’s carefully.  “I am eternally grateful to have people like Zen, and the rest of the RFA willing to defend me at a moment’s notice, even to their detriment.”

“Please consider this our formal apology,” Zen adds.

Jumin hands Callie her phone and her smirk is suddenly back.  “That seemed very convincing.”

She shrugs and presses her palms to her eyes.  “We’ll see, Martin will share it, and Wyatt, and you should too Hyun.  Hopefully it’ll go from there.  A few dancers they know who’ve worked with him are suspicious he may have said those things on purpose to get a reaction from you.”

“So you think your apology will go viral and as people believe you his blacklist will be ineffective?” Jumin asks.

“That’s my worst case, we hope that our apology will go viral and other performers will share it along with their own stories, apparently he does this often, Martin said he confuses abuse with method, it’s why he won’t work with him anymore.”

Zen rests his head in his hands.  “Worst case is I never get another job on stage and end up selling cat food for the rest of my life.”

“Speaking of worst case,” Jumin says as the door starts to open, “now that you’ve made yourself pathetic again are you feeling confident about this?”

“Could you shut up for like an entire minute?” She laughs at him.

“Miss Miller,” the doctors were all familiar now, “you look somewhat changed from earlier this morning.”

“Acting?” She shrugs and Jumin covers his mouth with his hand to suppress a snort.

“This morning?” The doctor asks.

“Just now actually,” she smiles.  “Did you talk to Doctor Jeong?”

“I _did_ , she expressed the same concerns that you and I spoke about this morning.”

Over his shoulder she can see Jumin smirk at his feet and fights the urge to throw something at him.

“And I’m certain you have those same concerns for most patients attempting to discharge themselves, I can’t help but be curious how many of those you refuse to let go, or keep almost a week past an average stay.”

“As we’ve stated—”

“No need to repeat yourself, I am aware that my _employer_ has concerns, and I am also aware that my American physician is refusing to release my records.  I am certain that if our mutual friend cares this much for my well being that I can speak to him on your behalf but I have a _family_ Dr. Jh’on, and I will simply leave if you continue to refuse to discharge me.”

Zen moves to the window by Jumin and she makes eye contact while the Doctor is considering his response.

“Could you two start taking my things down to the car?” She smiles.

“Just, just wait,” the Doctor stammers.  “I will speak with Doctor Jeong and we will discuss a therapy schedule a—”

“Excellent,” she smiles. 

“Have Doctor Jeong contact my assistant,” Jumin says, and Callie glares at him.  “I would like a list of physiotherapists who would be willing to make home visits, so Miss Miller does not need to lose any more time with her daughter.”

“Yes,” Doctor Jh’on nods, relief spreading across his face.  “Yes, that’s, that’s an excellent idea Mr. Han.”

As soon as the door is shut Callie throws a pillow at Jumin.  “So you couldn’t shut up for an entire minute?”

“I was quiet for an _entire_ ninety-seven seconds, Calliope.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just thought I'd not that Callie's injuries in this arc are based on a combination of shoulder injuries I have and the doctor refusing to release of her records is also a thing that happened to me.


	36. Home 1

She looked uncomfortableand it bothers him.  She’d never been uncomfortable in his home before. Usually she strode in as if it were hers claiming every inch from the kitchen to Elizabeth III.  Today however she’s come in empty handed, unable to remove her own coat, having promised to wear her brace for the first two days at home.

She’s put Mozart on his speaker system and is sitting on the sofa with her feet up, not her usual legs thrown over the back, music playing too loud, welcome invasion of his space.  He watches Elizabeth III curl up in her lap while she scrolls through her phone.

“I have meetings this afternoon, I’m sure we should expect a visit from my father at some point today.  You’ll be alright her alone?”

“Yes,” she says not looking up.

He suspects allowing himself to be involved with Saeyoung’s surprise may have been a bad idea and he finishes getting ready to go to work.  He had planned to be in late but not this late and he suspected Assistant Kang was already making apologies for him.  Normally Calliope would walk him to his door; sometimes she even walked him to the car with Elizabeth in her arms.

He clears his throat, he wants to ask her to see him off but the way both she and Elizabeth look at him over the back of his sofa suggests that maybe the women in his life are angry with him.

“Is everything ok?” He asks, timid and unlike him.

Her eyes soften.  “I’m sorry, this isn’t your fault, I just,” she sighs, “I was really looking forward to going _home_ , you know?”

“Oh.”

“You know I love it here,” she continues quickly, forcing a smile and trying not to hurt his feelings, “it’s just I miss _my_ bed, and the weird smell that Saeyoung’s couch has, and the stupid riddle gate.”

“Saeyoung spoke to the school and I will have someone bring Max here afterwards tonight.”  He tries not to sound hurt.

“Thank you, Jumin.”  He’s almost to the door when he feels her hand on his elbow.  “I’m sorry, I love it here, _you know that_. It’s like when you go to your parent’s house to visit and it’s comfortable, and you have a place there, but it’s not _your place_ , just a place made for you?  Does that make sense?”

“I suppose it does in a way,” he says thoughtfully.  “You have a place here, but it’s not solely yours, like a vacation perhaps.”

She smiles.  “Exactly like a vacation.  I appreciate that you’ve made a place for me here,” she steps closer to him and rests her forehead against his chin rather than continue to look up at him, “Don’t get me wrong the Bunker isn’t exactly home either but it’s the closest I’ve had to that feeling in a while.  I’m just a little disappointed.  Have a good day at work, and try to give Jaehee a break please.”

He presses his lips to her forehead and she smiles wider.  Perhaps Seayoung’s plan was not as foolish as he’d begun to think.  They would find out for certain tomorrow.

*

 _I’m an idiot_.  She hasn’t smiled at _him_ all day.  He should have known when she stepped out of the car and Jumin was not with her that this may have been a stupid idea.  A _scheme_ Jumin had called it, but he’d helped.  Not that Saeyoung was going to pass the blame.  The house had been his genius idea.

She smiles at Saeren when she gets out of the car, she frowns at him, and thanks the Driver for bringing her things to the door.

“I guess you have something to tell me?” Her jaw is set and her brows knit together the way he’s used to seeing when she’s tuning her guitar, or stuck on a video game puzzle.

“Welcome home?”  His confidence somewhat diminished.   He has her stay outside with his brother and runs her things into their new house.  He says a quiet prayer of thanks that Max is at school before he opens the door.

Callie is smiling at Saeren, laughing, talking, she stops abruptly and her face falls back into frustrated curiosity.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Saeren whispers to him as he walks past.

He shrugs.  “Come on, check this out,” he smiles and puts on his best 707, hoping to compensate for her mood.  He leads her around the back of the house, the yard is big.  It’s large enough for her to have a garden, the area is somewhere between rural and suburban, not far from the bunker.  Close enough that Max didn’t need to change schools as long as someone will drive her there.

He opens the door to the bottom floor and presents their bedroom, the whole floor, half the size of the main floor, is theirs.  His bed from the bunker against one wall, a fireplace with a new TV mounted above the mantle, he sees her almost smile when she peaks into the bathroom, the two person whirlpool tub almost winning over her mood.

“There’s more furniture on the way,” he apologises. 

“Cool,” she says, face unchanging.

His brother shakes his head behind her and Saeyoung leads her up the stairs, and then up another set, straight to the top floor.  “Two bedrooms and a bathroom, one for Max and one for Saeren,” there’s an open space at the end of the hall with a small couch, table, beanbag chair and another TV.  “There’s so much room for activities!”  He smiles but she doesn’t smile back.

Saeren goes into his room and shuts the door.

Saeyoung sighs and leads her back down to the main floor.  They go left to the kitchen; he’d even consulted her mother about it.  Two wall mounted ovens that were apparently for different things, a stovetop on the island, industrial sink and dishwasher, and other things her mother said she’d always wanted.  She runs her hand along the countertops, and touches the appliances with what he would have described as reverence if her face had been anything but blank.

He skips the dining area, she can see it from the kitchen and there’s nothing truly impressive about it, just their old table and chairs sitting across from _her dream kitchen_.  They step into the sunken living room, another fireplace with a TV mounted above the mantle, three big arm chairs, and a rug.  “Remember how I said there’s more furniture coming?” He laughs nervously.  “Ok but this is what makes it worth it!”

He rushes ahead of her, up the step out of the living room and grabs the knob of a sliding door, pulls it open with a flourish and bows.

“Tadaa!”

He’s pretty sure that she’s folding her arms over her chest.  It’s hard to tell with her arm in the brace but that’s what it looks like, so he gets her.  He marches into the living room and picks her up by the waist and places her down in the middle of her music room-slash-studio.

“Tadaa!” he says again.

He can see her struggle to control her expression.  She’s angry, with him he assumes, and she doesn’t want to give in just yet, but despite the set of her jaw her eyes are wide and she’s almost smirking.  She does a lap around the room, her instruments are all carefully stored and her scores are all catalogued.  All of the sound equipment is ready to use or whisk away to a gig. Not to mention a new computer for the behind the scenes work she still does for the American station. She almost gets to the best part when she turns and gently pushes him out of the room and shuts the door.

This was stupid, but it’s too late now.  He knows her well enough to know she doesn’t hate it but he’s just not sure anymore.  He should have waited, or talked with her.  A surprise house?  Why would he have thought that was a good idea, why didn’t he listen to literally everyone?

They have to get to the Bunker, there are workers to let in, and he has work to catch up on now that his hand is working again.  He’s just getting his things together when the door to her music room slides open and she slips out and down the stairs.

He follows her, feeling foolish, like a sad puppy but she doesn’t even look at him.  It doesn’t take her long to find her things; she loosens the brace as much as she can with one hand and changes into a tank top and leggings.  He watches her tighten the brace and pull a sweater over top of it.  She puts her earbuds in and goes out the patio door in their room.

He watches her for a minute from the sliding glass door.  She stands in the middle of their new back yard, phone in hand, squinting at her surroundings.  His phone chimes and he peals himself away from the door.  He trudges up the stairs and looks at his smirking brother.

“This was a bad idea,” he shrugs.  “You were right.”

Saeren laughs. “You’re an idiot, but she loves you and she likes this place and she might love a stupid idiot but she’ll get over it and she’ll let you feel like the hero.”

“I don’t know this time,” he sighs.

He can’t focus on work, Saeren is overseeing the workers they have renovating the bedrooms into his computer room, and every time Saeyoung thinks he’s finally on track there’s a new sound to derail him.  First he worries that she left and won’t be back when Max gets home, but Jumin’s driver would never leave Max there alone, still he calls to make sure.

Then he sees her in the chatroom, she’s posted pictures of the park near their house, she talks to Yoosung and Jaehee as if he’s not even there.

Later he gets a text from Yoosung.  _It’s really pretty there, good job. I bet she loves it_. She hasn’t told Yoosung she hates it, so he hopes that’s good news.  He’s almost finished and Saeren is walking the workers out when he gets a text from Zen.  _Dude, she is pissed.  RIP Luciel Choi._   Well, there goes that theory.

When they get home she’s in the kitchen with Max, they’re cooking supper and every cupboard is open while the two of them completely rearrange things.  Max points an accusatory finger at him, “Why would you put the spices by the sink, Luciel?”

“I don’t know,” he stammers.  “They fit?”

“Well that’s dumb,” she says, tiny hands on her tiny hips.  “They always go by the stove, everyone knows that.”

“Oh.” He says.

“Yeah, Saeyoung,” Saeren laughs from the sofa.  “Everyone knows that.”

It’s not as tense in the house now, and Callie may not have smiled at him yet but she is at least smiling and chatting with Max and Saeren.  She answers a few calls happily and plays on her phone by the unlit fireplace while he does the dishes. 

Once Max is in bed she closes herself in the music room for another hour.  She’s sweating when she comes out and she heads right downstairs, he finishes what he’s doing on his laptop and follows.  He finds her sitting in the bed looking frustrated.

“Can you help me?” She asks, speaking more than monosyllabically for the first time today.

“Yeah, of course,” he finds it hard to control his voice now that she’s finally talking to him.

“This stupid brace, they want me to wear it to sleep in and for the first few days at home so I didn’t overdo it.  I should be able to take it off for short periods starting tomorrow.  Help me get my bra undone.  I had to let Jumin help me get dressed this morning.”

He helps her, he doesn’t speak.  Now that she’s talking he hopes she won’t stop, but as soon as the bra is flung across the room she just lies back, diagonally across the bed.  After a moment he lays down too, his head on her stomach, his feet flat on the floor.  She runs her free hand through his hair.

“It’s not a new bed,” she says quietly.  “Thank god for small miracles.”

“Hmm?” He’d forgotten how nice it was to just lay next to her, the way she absently touches people when she’s content.  _She’s finally content_.

“I’m sorry,” she says softly, “I’m an asshole.”

“It’s okay,” he laughs.  “I’m an idiot.”

“You are,” she laughs. “Don’t get me wrong I’m still mad, you obviously did your homework but you bought a _house_ and you didn’t even ask me, you know?  No wonder your brother freaked out a few days ago, this is a pretty huge change.”

“I know,” he groans.

“Not to mention I’ve been away for like two weeks in the fucking hospital dreaming of this stupid uncomfortable bed that smells like gross boys, and your ugly couch with the unidentifiably bad smell, and our stupid book shelf walls.  I just wanted somewhere familiar, I wanted to go home.”

“It’s not like the Bunker was really home though,” he says, the edge of defensiveness clear in his tone.

“I _know_ , but it’s the closest thing I’ve had in a long time.  Don’t get me wrong this place is a good start, and if you give me a few days I’ll be really, irritatingly, happy about it.  I just wasn’t ready.”                                                           


	37. Home 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey just a heads up, this weekend is Seven and Saeran's birthday (June 11), so feel free to hit up my tumblr [Botany-Enthused-Vampire](https://botany-enthused-vampire.tumblr.com/) if you'd like to make any Choi Twin related writing requests.

She was so bored.  It had been a week in the new house, a week home from the hospital, stuck in the brace, with explicit instructions to do nothing that could not be completed left handed until further notice and what seemed like an army of friends ready to enforce those instructions.

Not to mention she was largely alone.  Zen had been keeping his head down while his _blacklist_ sorted itself out, spending a lot of time at Surana’s dance studio, or at the hospital with the children the two of them had been working with.  Yoosung was now chest deep in clinicals, with the house so far out he couldn’t even swing by for a minute on his way home.  Saeyoung and Saeren insisted she couldn’t see the bunker until it was finished and Jaehee and Jumin simply worked normal jobs.

Cookies and Punch still had her on disability so she didn’t even have media licences to sort out for her old crew, and tournament season was over so no reason to even get dressed and leave the house, aside from going for a walk, but you could only do that so many times in a day.

She met with her physiotherapist every second day.  Jumin had hired someone to come to the house but at this point she would have rather had to go somewhere.  This morning she’d finally been approved to leave the brace off during the day time on a trial basis.  It had only taken her 2 hours to do all the little things the boys had missed cleaning up. 

She’s so bored she calls Surana and begs her to come by.

“Please, I have this studio and the boys will kill me if I practice alone.”

“Somehow you think this makes you special, deserving of in private home lessons?” Surana’s voice is dry, but Callie is sure she’s intrigued, probably has been since Martin called her.

“No,” Callie admits, “but wouldn’t you like to tell me all the ways I’ve disappointed you in the comfort of my house, while you fold me into uncomfortable positions and drink my expensive wine?”

There is a long suffering sigh on the other end of the line.  “My morning classes end in an hour Amy.  You will have lunch prepared for me, and then I will consider causing you pain. “

“I’ll thank you either way,” Callie says.

When the dancer gets there a light lunch is on the table with a bottle of Jumin’s wine.  Surana is suitably wooed.  Callie leaves Surana with her second glass of wine and cleans up their lunch dishes.  Surana follows her to the studio and watches as Callie unlatches the shelves on either side of the room, turns them on their wheels and hooks them back into place.  Each unit holding her neatly displayed instrument cases turning to reveal a mirrored back.

Surana makes a small impressed sound and Callie tends to the music while the petite woman begins to strip off layers until she looks almost exactly the way Callie remembers her. 

It’s more than an hour later and Callie is dripping with sweat, the music had increased in severity and merged with the forceful way Surana instructs.  There’s a barrage of insults and disappointed noises and Callie doesn’t hear the door to the house.

“You never fail to disappoint me,” Surana says grabbing her by the calf.

She grabs onto the bar with her good hand as she feels her balance falter and lets her heel fall back to the floor.  “Shit.” She grunts.

“If Delonge thinks that you and that wet noodle you’ve sent me will do anything together he is as foolish as he ever was.”

“Still trying to compete with me?” Callie laughs.

“You were never competition,” Surana snorts.

“Didn’t stop you.”

They both laugh and then simultaneously jump when a man clears his throat in the living room.  Callie spins around but Surana simply makes aggressive eye contact through the mirror.

“Has this been approved as part of your recovery?”

“Hello Mr. Han.  Welcome to my home, can I offer you a drink,” Callie smiles and grabs the loose shirt she’d stripped off 3 drills in.

Jumin’s father stands in the middle of her living room and folds his arms.  Surana continues to stare.

“I guess,” she continues smiling, “you don’t get updates anymore now that my doctor works for Jumin, but yes, as long as I am conscious of my shoulder and don’t attempt anything too complicated alone I am _allowed_ to dance.”  She fumbles with her phone and fires off a text to Jumin while she turns down the music.

“I see,” he frowns at her.  “And this woman here is qualified to instruct you?”

Callie puts a hand on Surana’s shoulder when she spins around to face the Chief.  “Mr. Han I’m sure you’ve heard of Surana Iwakura?  We trained together as children, she’s danced in the Uk, and Russia, she owns three studios, one in the UK, one here and another overseas.”

His eyes narrow but he nods.

“And Surana I’m sure you know of Mr. Han, my friend Jumin’s father, the Chairman at C&R, _my boss basically_.”

Surana snorts.  “I suppose we can end this farce here, perhaps once you start visiting me in my studio this room will not seem like such a waste.”  She begins pulling her shed layers back on to leave while watching Callie carefully.

Surana had never been her friend but she could see that she was uncomfortable leaving her alone with a clearly uninvited man in her home.

“Mr. Han,” Callie continues to smile, “would you like to join us for supper tonight, Jumin is picking Max up from school today, she’s been begging to see you again, and I did promise to cook for you.” She says to put the other woman at ease. 

Surana shrugs and makes for the door. 

Callie turns off the light in the studio and pulls the sliding door shut.  She never stops smiling at Jumin’s father, who simply stands in the living room watching her.

“Mr. Han, don’t get me wrong I appreciate everything you’ve done for my recovery, and I was expecting this visit, but could you please relax and let me get you something, before I listen to your lecture?”

His face relaxes.  “I offered that hospital a lot of money.”

“And I told them they’d still get it,” she says, arms folded.

“Confidently I assume,” he frowns.

“I _am_ home,” she laughs.  “Mr. Han, we both know your altruism was not for my benefit.  I know Jumin was a mess but I have a kid too and as much as Jumin probably benefited from having me in the hospital where he could keep an eye on me Max needed me _more_.”  She stops smiling, he soft tone goes hard.  “Not to mention that I assumed Jumin was the one responsible for keeping me there and was, understandably I think, frustrated with him for that. 

“All of this being completely moot as I’ve done the short program for this recovery more than once and am an adult, capable of being in charge of my own recovery, capable of making my own choices.  I’m not beholden to your or Jumin.”

He follows her to the kitchen while she calmly lectures him, his frown replaced with his usual bemused expression.  She hands him 3 fingers of scotch.

“Could you explain to me, Ms. Miller, how capable you are in that respect?  Considering what you’ve been doing this afternoon?”

“I didn’t take my second dose of painkillers, or muscle relaxers,” she says calmly.  “Specifically so that I would be acutely aware of any negative impact on my shoulder. In the hospital I was forced to take what they give me when they give it to me, I am always medicated for my exercises and I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’ve got a few issues with pride?”

He chuckles.

“I push myself too hard in the hospital because I can’t feel the impact of my own stubbornness, so being home is good for me. However I have a feeling you showing up when you assumed I would be alone was not just an attempt to lecture me on how seriously I’m taking my recovery.”

Callie continues on with her work in the kitchen, she’s pulling out vegetables, cutting boards, knives, frying pans, and spices.

“You’re an observant woman Ms. Miller.”

“I can read people,” she laughs.  “You’re particularly easy.”

He frowns.

“Oh not in the board room,” she laughs.  “But you are an open book when faced with most women.”

He shrugs.  “I’ve suspected for a while.”

“About Jumin and I?”

He nods.

“And you’ve asked Jumin.”

“You know what my son is like,” he shakes his head.

“He’s very private,” she nods not looking up from her cutting board.  “And I’m afraid I respect his feelings on that so I am not sure if I can help you out here.”

“Your situation is not unique,” he says. 

“Mr. Han,” she looks up at him from across the counter, and points the knife at him like and extension of her finger, “I’m afraid you’re not even a little aware of our situation and I am not going to clarify or justify it to you.  That is between Jumin and you.”

“Could you at least tell me if this _situation_ will affect my business?”

She snorts and has to cover her mouth.  When she’s finished laughing she smiles widely at him.  “I can say with the utmost sincerity that it will not.  Mr. Han we have a bit of a gathering on Friday evenings, like I said you’re welcome to stay, maybe that would ease your mind?”

Now that the music is off she can hear a car pulling up outside and she can tell by the way he adjusts his shoulders he has heard it too.

“Calliope could you tell me one thing, without breaking my son’s confidence in you?”

“I can try?”

“Is he _happy_ , with whatever arrangement you’ve made?”

“Mr. Han, you could stay, even just a little while if you have dinner plans, and see for yourself.”

The door swings open and Max bursts into the room, followed by Jumin who is laden with her jacket, hat, backpack, and a huge stuffed wolf.  She throws herself at her mother and then grabs the wolf and runs off.  Jumin is hanging Max’s things in the entry way.

“So what did my father want?” He asks, unable to see his around the corner.  “He didn’t stay long did he?”

“Well,” she starts, frowning at Mr. Han. 

“Did Saeyoung get a new car?”  Jumin asks, coming into the kitchen.  His entire demeanor changes when he sees his father. “Oh.”

“I was just inviting your father to stay for dinner,” she says.

He glances around the room.  “Oh, I’m not sure he’d be interested.”

“It’s alright Jumin,” his father laughs.  “I have plans of my own.”

Jumin’s eyes narrow on the empty wine bottle in the sink.  “Calliope, you’re not supposed to be drinking on the muscle relaxers you’re taking.”

“Good thing I didn’t take them this afternoon,” she smirks and the bacon she’s been cutting sizzles as it hits the hot pan.

He frowns at his father.  “How long have you been here?”

“Not long,” Callie answers.  “Did Jaehee mention if we’d see her tonight?”

“Ms. Kang does not usually share her plans with me,” he frowns.

“Mom,” Max yells from the stairs, “when is Uncle Zen going to be here?”

“I don’t know,” Callie calls back walking past Jumin and his father, “you’re not asking because you named that wolf Zen are you?”

“His name is Ryu II,” she shrieks and cackles.  Callie can hear her heavy footfalls running up the stairs.

Jumin is stirring the bacon in the pan when she comes back to the kitchen and his father appears to be leaving.

“It was very nice to see you Mr. Han.”

“You as well Ms, Miller,” he nods.

“We do this every Friday, you’re always welcome.”  Her smile never falters.

“I will consider what you told me.”

Callie shrugs, and goes back to cooking.  Jumin has hung his jacket over pantry doorknob and rolled his sleeves up.  He watches her carefully while she finishes cutting the vegetables she’d pulled out.  She sets them aside and opens another bottle of wine.  She pours them both a glass and he frowns at her.

“What did you tell my father?” He still hasn’t relaxed.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she laughs and takes entirely too big of a drink from her glass.

Jumin frowns.  “I did ask.”

“The chief didn’t just drop by to lecture me about leaving the hospital, I mean he did that, and we had a talk about how I am also a parent and an adult.”

“Did that go well for you?”

“We’ve established your father loves me, so of course.”

Jumin laughs.

Callie crosses the space between them and brushes his hair out of his face.  “Your Dad wanted me to tell him what _we_ are.”

He frowns.  “What did you tell him?”

“I told him that he should ask you, that it’s not my place to speak on your behalf, and that I was sure that if he was asking _me_ that question he probably already knew the answer.”

“Was he satisfied with that answer?”

“He’s a Han so of course not,” she laughs and kisses him on the nose.  “Of course he assumes the worst about Saeyoung and worries about your reputation.  I told him if he had concerns he should talk to you, or he could stay for dinner and see how little he has to worry about our _arrangement_ with his own eyes.”

His frown deepens.

“I’m not going to lie to your Dad, especially when he’s just worried about you.  I respect that you don’t think it’s his business and I understand that you’re Dad would probably accept his assumptions easier than the truth.  You don’t have to tell him and I didn’t clarify. But I’m not going to straight up lie, he just wants to see you happy, you know?”

“I can respect that,” Jumin says hugging her. 

 

 

 

 


	38. Home 3

“You’re slippers are too small,” Zen whines as Callie’s worn pink Ballet slippers slap softly against the side of his head over and over again.

“Half a size you wuss,” she scolds. “It’s not like I’m asking you to perform the nutcracker in its entirety.  Surana called you a wet noodle, that’s practically a compliment coming from her, show me your arabesque!”

Jaehee is practically leaning against her, clutching her wine glass, when Zen pulls the slippers out of Callie’s hand.  The two women squeal and clap and he glares at Callie.  Seven pulls the studio open with a flourish, still prepared from Surana’s visit earlier in the day.  Yoosung dims the lights and Zen pulls his sweater over his head and throws it at Jumin.

Jumin puts his hands up in surrender.  “I have nothing to do with this.”

Callie half follows him to her little studio room and watches him squeeze his feet into her slippers. “Are you already standing pointe?”  She crinkles her nose at him and points at his wounded toes.

“We’re working on it,” he shrugs.  “It’s not like broken toes are anything to me.”

“Hyun, don’t let her push you around.”

“Only you can do that right?” He laughs.

She shoves him.

Saeyoung starts up sleeping beauties waltz.

“This feels like a child’s recital.” Jumin complains.

“Isn’t it?” Saeren asks.

Callie shouts things in what sounds like French and Zen performs each feat in turn, Callie claps excitedly each time, she calls out a series of things and Zen performs a series of jumps, spins and extensions.  Aside from her yelling no one looks at Callie, who is slipping her socks off.  She slips into the light and continues to call out to Zen the two of them moving in sync across the small studio the room is quiet as they dance, both of them fluid mirrors of one another except for Callie’s limp arm.

Soon Zen’s face is confused Callie continues to call things out to him but she’s moving separately from him, her bad arm loose she performs moves in sequence to his, while he jumps and lifts and the two of them frown, soon after they fall into one another for a third time and continue to dance, laughing and stumbling through the remainder of the song.

Max is leaning over the back of the sofa clapping when the waltz comes to an end and Callie curtseys, the two of them laughing and panting.  Jaehee and Yoosung pick up the round of applause.

“Well,” Callie laughs through a wheeze, “we’re pretty good for a group of kindergarteners.”

Zen is breathing a little heavy and sweating profusely, but he manages to look relatively put together and she shoves him again.

“Try to look like that took effort asshole,” she laughs still wheezing.

“It’s not my fault I’m in shape,” Zen frowns.

Jumin is waiting for her with her brace when the lights come up and she groans.  “Was I _that_ bad?”

“You’ve been drinking, you’re two doses of muscle relaxers behind and if I had known you intended to dance with Hyun I would have made you put it on first.”

“That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you,” she laughs and lets him strap her arm down.

Jaehee hands her back her beer and Zen throws her slippers back at her.  Callie lays down on the sofa next to Max.  “What is going on over here Kiddo?”

Max is laid out on the other half of the big sofa, she has markers and paper spread across the cushions and a pile of finished drawings.  She shrugs. “Playing soccer.”

Max’s phone sits out beside her, blinking with a message and Callie remembers a phone conversation she’d had with Toby in the hospital.  “Is that a message from your Dad?”

Max shrugs.  “Probably.”

“Are you going to call him back?”  Callie throws her arm up as a barrage of nerf darts comes flying at them, Max squeals and dives off the couch.  Callie throws as many darts as she can gather back at Saeyoung.  “Hey Max, if you’re mad at Dad because of me let it go ok?”

Max stops laughing and shrugs. 

“You’re allowed to be mad at him though, just if it’s because of me, whether I said something or he did, just let me handle it ok?”

Max nods, and then squeals again as Yoosung dives over the back of the couch in a hail of nerf darts.  Callie manages to roll out of the way without falling on her face and both her and Max scramble out of the way.  They make it back to the kitchen without incident; Jaehee, Jumin and Saeren all seem to have taken refuge there as well.  Callie pours Jumin and Jaehee another round of wine and Jumin stops her when she reaches for another beer.  She doesn’t argue.

Soon there’s a crash and a symphony of curses, the three _great warriors_ turn the corner with Yoosung in the middle sporting a fat lip.  Callie tosses him and Zen another beer and Yoosung holds it to his wounded face.

The music playing over their speaker system picks up and Callie watches as Max grabs Jumin and Saeyoung by the hand and drags them out into the open floor laughing.  Saeyoung falls easily into mimicking Max’s bouncing, jerky dance, he takes her by both hands and spins her around and around.  Jumin is slower to catch on but soon he’s pulling the laughing nine year old away from Saeyoung and swinging her in big loop and then before she knows it they have Max squashed between them, the three of them shouting the words to the song and bouncing to the music.

These were the types of moments she’d hoped she could share with Jumin’s father.  The way Jumin had relaxed into their little family.  The five of them, Saeren included, had become more than she’d ever hoped to have.  She could extend the count to the rest of the RFA.  They were all so much more than friends.

She stands back in the kitchen with Jaehee as Max goads the rest of the boys out to dance with her.

“One more song and then bed,” Jumin acquiesces.

She catches the manila envelope sitting on top of the microwave and she suspects she knows exactly why Max has stopped answering Toby’s calls.  She’s already started making arrangements, not that she’d brought herself to open it yet.

She’d just wanted to get through this week.  She’d read it in the morning she decided, as Jaehee said her goodbyes and Zen grabbed his sweater begging a ride from her.  She laughed at the way Jaehee always blushed when she was forced into close quarters with him.

She pushes the envelope back out of sight, and ushers Max off to bed.  She doesn’t want to think about leaving this behind, even temporarily, or how she was going to break it to the guys.

 


	39. Home 4

“Do either of them know yet?”

Callie barely stops herself from screaming, as it is she bangs her knee and spills her coffee when she jumps.

“Sorry,” Saeren frowns. “I thought you’d hear me coming down the stairs, I didn’t mean—”

She shakes her head. “I probably should of,” he helps her clean up the spilled coffee, “but I was kind of in my own world.”

He shrugs.

“How long have you known?” She doesn’t look at him.

“I saw the package when it got here, I suspected,” he shakes his head.

“How am I going to tell them?”

Toby had filed to change their custody arrangements, and while she knew she had plenty of evidence to support her current claim she also knew how long this could take. She and Max would have to go back to the US, at least for the time being. With her not working during her recovery it would look best, given the circumstances, to make Max available. She’d have to consider home schooling, or transferring her to an American School for the term.

“You just do,” he shrugs. “Soon, probably.”

She groans. Saeren is already pulling out the dishes to cook breakfast, and she makes him a coffee.

“Did you take your pills this morning?” He asks, pointing a frying pan at her.

“I was going to wait.”

He shakes his head and puts the pan down before he disappears and she starts cracking eggs into a bowl. When he comes back he hands her a pill bag and they both sort out the handful of pills they’re supposed to take in the morning. They cheers their coffee cups and swallow. Jumin comes up from the basement shortly after and joins in with making breakfast, followed shortly by Max.

“Yoosung is snoring in the hallway,” she complains.

“Wake him up then,” Jumin yawns.

“No holds bar wake up call,” Callie smiles.

Max growls and runs off. It’s not long before they hear a yelp and a cackle before Max comes running down the stairs.

“It was Dad, itwasDad, _itwasDad_ ,” she’s squealing.

The whole kitchen stops, even Yoosung, dripping wet behind her freezes; Max slides to a stop as she realizes what she said.

“Luciel,” she corrects, looking at her mother.

As if on cue, Saeyoung’s fuzzy bed head precedes him out of the basement. Max blushes, but Callie smiles.

“How do I not smell breakfast yet,” Saeyoung complains. “In my own home, what kind of betrayal?”

Saeren throws a slice of bread at him.

Later when everyone has eaten and Yoosung is waiting for a cab to take him home Callie finds Max on the couch upstairs watching videos. “You know,” she starts, “you can call Saeyoung Dad if you want. Technically he’s your step-Dad, and even if he wasn’t, if it feels ok to you, it’s ok with us.”

Max pauses the TV and looks at her Mom. “Won’t it make my actual Dad sad?”

Callie considers the question. With everything happening she needs to be careful how she answers. “I don’t know kiddo. If it makes you happy then I support it, and I think your Dad would too, we want you to be happy, and if you think Saeyoung acts like a Dad and you want to treat him like one that’s up to you ok? You shouldn’t worry about making your Dad and I sad, ok?”

Max seems to consider this before she runs off into her room, Callie can hear things shuffling around in there before Max runs back out and hands her a piece of paper. “Can you give this to Luciel for me?”

“Sure,” Callie smiles smoothing out the paper. Max hugs her and turns her show back on.

She doesn’t think to look at the drawing as she makes her way down stairs again, so many things have been happening she’s not exactly sure what to focus on, she hugs Yoosung and Jumin goodbye and watches them get into separate cars in their driveway, Yoosung waves again and she waves back and Saeyoung grabs the paper out of her hand.

“What’s this?” He asks.

“Max drew it for you; I think she wants you to hang it in the bunker.”

“Did you look at it?” He sounds shocked

She takes the drawing from him, a picture of her and Saeyoung on computers with the Robot cat they’d built together, underneath is says _me and dad_ , in purple marker. Callie smiles, even though she can feel the tightness building in her chest. “Saeyoung we need to talk.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that last weeks update didn't happen, I am currently armpit deep in computer issues and file recovery.


	40. home 5

Jaehee having a date was an excellent distraction to the slow deterioration of her mental health. An excellent excuse to hang out in the basement with a bottle of wine or two and try on a bunch of ridiculous dresses she’d only ever worn once.

“Where did you even get this one?” Jaehee throws a one sleeved, obviously very fitted, sequin gown on the bed and looks aghast.

“What!” Callie gasps and clutches her wine glass to her chest. “I’m offended that you don’t recognize this monstrosity.”

  
“Mr. Han definitely did not buy that for you.”

“He definitely didn’t” Callie laughs, “and he really hated that I had to wear it.”

“Mr. Chairman didn’t—”

Callie snorts she’s laughing so hard. “Absolutely not! That, my taffeta covered princess, is the infamous tango dress, given to me by the Oil Prince himself.”

“Oh my god,” Jaehee holds it up again. “Is it custom made.”

“Shit I hope so. Needless to say I am keeping it forever and never wearing it again.”

Callie pours them both another glass of wine, emptying the bottle and hangs the sequined torture device back in her closet. “You know,” she smiles at her friend, “if this goes well, you’re welcome to my closet any time while you’re house sitting, shoes jewelry, anything that fits. Think of it as a bonus or an apology for whatever nonsense Jumin gets up to without us.”

“God Callie, I think having a whole house to myself without upstairs neighbors stomping their feet or downstairs neighbors hanging art at all hours of the night will be more than enough.”

“Ok but promise if this date goes well you’ll take advantage of some of these, tailor them so they fit, I don’t care. Look, everything on a purple hanger makes Jumin uncomfortable, remember that for if her gets shitty.”

“You organize your closet by what makes Mr. Han happy?” Jaehee scrunches up her face and starts looking through the dresses on purple hangers.

“God no, but I mean, you know the way he gets about some patterns, I just keep them separate. If we need to appear like a couple or he’s taking me somewhere I try not to wear them, but if my main goal is to flirt with investors I can’t have Jumin all over me so I wear my Han repelling diagonals.”

“Han repelling Diagonals, we could market that in the office.”  
Callie cackles.

“You know you do a lot for Mr. Han, I’m not sure he deserves you.”

Callie shakes her head. “I don’t do that much, no more than I’ve done for you or Zen, or anyone in the RFA.”

Jaehee frowns. “No I disagree.”

“The things I do for Jumin are just more, I don’t know substantial isn’t the right word,” Callie flexes the fingers on her injured hand.

“I think it’s an appropriate word.”

She shrugs. “Maybe it is but Jumin does a lot for me, he doesn’t expect me to do most of the things I do. I mean you of all people should know how much he’s done for me.”

Jaehee shakes her head. “I don’t, he sends everything to do with you to another department.”

“Really?”

“Conflict of interest,” Jaehee shrugs.

“Wow, I’d never considered, I thought he took care of it all.”

“Yes anytime someone emails me about you now I have to forward it to Soo-geun Lee.”

Callie is quiet for a moment before she starts to laugh. “Well let me tell you how that could get complicated.”

*

Lunch with Jumin’s father was not supposed to go like this. She had agreed with the assumption that Jumin would respect her privacy in the same way she respects his. Instead here she was in the middle of the day, drinking scotch and trying not to argue with the father son tag team across from her.

“I don’t think it would be out of the question—” Mr. Han starts.

“It’s so far out of the question. I don’t want to sound ungrateful—”

“Well you do,” Jumin says bluntly.

Her vision flickers and she tips back the last of her scotch, acutely aware that it’s too early to feel as unsteady as she does right now. She flexes her fingers inside the brace and takes a deep breath.

“I accept that you both think I’m stupid for saying no. Believe me I understand what you’re offering, and I respect that you support Jumin’s offer to help Mr. Han but I really need to do this myself. C&R pays me well enough I can afford a decent lawyer.”

“Is decent really enough?” Mr. Han inclines his head in a way that immediately puts her in mind of Toby being condescending.

“Honestly a free lawyer would be enough. All anyone you offer to pay is going to do is speed the process up.” Callie sighs. It’s been the same argument with Jumin for the last week and a half. Saeyoung had taken up the chorus briefly but at the very least he’d known when to give in.

“Which is why I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to accept my offer,” Jumin almost raises his voice. His fist falls to the table with a dull thud.

Her vision flickers again and she glances around the room.

He doesn’t want her to leave, not for as long as this could take, and part of her knows it. Saeyoung and Saeren were going with, they could work from anywhere and Jumin had to stay. Even if he could have come with them, it wouldn’t have exactly been subtle.

She asks for water when the waiter comes back to check on them and Jumin orders her a coffee instead. They finish their meal in tense silence. She knows she should accept the offer, she knows her refusal is an issue of pride but she’d hoped if Saeyoung could accept it that at least one of the two men at this table could understand that.

But Jumin’s pride was also hurt. Her decent lawyer had suggested that her and Saeyoung be married before she had to be in court, and Jumin had been pouting since he had signed as a witness. He’d had opinions since, increasingly aggressive opinions.

Mr. Han takes her hand when she reaches for her coffee, another flicker in her vision. “What a lovely ring Ms. Miller I don’t think I’ve seen you wear this one before.”

“It’s Mrs. Choi now,” Jumin mumbles into his wine glass.

Callie pulls her hand back and glares at him. “No, it’s still Ms. Miller.”

“Are you married now then?” Mr. Han asks, intrigue distracting from the earlier disagreement.

It’s Jumin’s turn to tip his glass up.

“Saeyoung and I have been engaged for more than a year, my lawyer suggested that if we were married it would help my case, at least regards to being financially capable.”

“Can Luciel’s income even be tracked,” Jumin snorts.

Another flicker, Callie takes a deep breath. Jumin has been trying to fight with her all day, and the rational part of her brain screams at her not to take the bait from somewheredeep beneath the pile of anxious thoughts wrestling around in her head.

Jumin has pulled his phone out and she excuses herself. She’s going to have a very public fight with him if she sits here next to him in this mood and she needs to gather herself before she has a panic attack in the middle of this restaurant. Mr. Han takes her hand briefly as she passes and when she turns to look at him she can see the apologetic look on his face. She shrugs as another flicker catches her.

This time though, she can see the source. Not her pending panic attack but a woman a few tables away, a familiar woman that Callie has been catching glimpses of since before she left the hospital.

She drops Mr. Han’s hand and moves towards the woman; a waiter jumps out of her way and the woman scrambles out of her seat when she realizes she’s been made. She holds her phone out and brandishes at Callie. “I’m recording this!”

“Good,” Callie flexes her fingers in her brace. “Are these for Toby or are you going to sell them?”

“What?”

“Don’t act dumb, you were a worse PI than a Paparazzi but it’s worked out for you. Are these pictures for sale or are you sending them Tobias Kreiger?”

“I’ve got plenty of evidence you know,” the woman shouts at her. The entire restaurant is staring at them and Callie feels like she can’t breathe. The woman shakes the phone in her face and Callie slaps it away instinctually. “Break that phone, I don’t care,” she keeps yelling, “I have backups of all the pictures I’ve taken, not just todays.”

She can feel Jumin’s eyes on her back and she knows she needs to remove herself but she just can’t pull herself away. “What evidence? What is he paying you? I don’t even care, you don’t have anything I just want to know who is paying you to stalk me?”

The woman bends and picks up her phone. “How many lovers do you need,” she snorts, “and to have them all around your child, what kind of a mother are you? I hope your ex-husband takes her far away from you.”

The thought that she probably shouldn’t hit this woman in the middle of a fancy restaurant is just ending when she looks down at her bleeding knuckles. “Shit,” she whispers and covers her mouth with her bloody hand.

She stands in the middle of the room vaguely aware of the commotion around her. Jumin is touching her shoulder gently and from somewhere in the swirl of thoughts in her head she realizes she might be crying. Security seems to be escorting the woman she hit from the building but Callie can’t tell if she’s actually injured her.

Mr. Han seems to be taking care of everything, she glances around the room while Jumin holds a napkin to her bleeding knuckles, he appears to be responsible for the woman’s swift exit, and the fact that everyone has simply gone back to their meals, as far as the hurricane in her brain is concerned Jumin’s father is the hero of the hour. He puts a hand on her shoulder and nods at her in a way that brings her own father to mind.

Jumin lifts the napkin from her hand and she notices that she’s shaking. Mr. Han sits his untouched scotch down beside her. She flexes her fingers inside her brace.

“That was impressive, if inappropriate Ms. Miller, another secret talent?” Mr. Han says softly.

It takes a minute for her to form words. “No,” she inhales, “just a Dad in the service, you know?”

“She’s lucky you’re not left handed,” Jumin scolds, “and so are you, she wouldn’t have walked out of here if you’d hit her with your right hand.”

Mr. Han pats Jumin on the shoulder and the two share a series of looks that Callie can’t quiet decipher. She reaches for the scotch and then changes her mind. The C&R security guards have come back and they help her stand, Jumin takes her in hand, his face grim but his body language changed from earlier. She leans on him as they make their way to his big black Sedan.

“Please take us to my doctor,” Jumin asks Driver Kim.

“No thank you,” Callie says. “Take me home please Mr. Kim.”

“Calliope you need stitches and antiseptic, look at your hand, her teeth cut you.”

Callie pushes her big bag towards him with her foot. “There are steristrips and rubbing alcohol in my first aid kit. I’m going home.”

“Calliope—” he starts the tone seeping back into his voice.

“Jumin, use the fucking first aid kit, I need to go home.”

For the first time in weeks, Jumin Han does what he’s told. When he finishes with her hand he takes the brace off her arm and she freezes for a moment while he pulls and tugs.

“Callie, Relax,” he says softly. “The rate you were drinking at lunch you shouldn’t have any of your medication for at least another hour.”

“Shows what you know,” she snorts.

With her arm free he pulls her closer to him, the seat belt making it difficult to really hold her the way he’d like to, and she gives in a little, he’s stiff, frustrated with her still,she wishes she had a good reason to refuse his offer. Something that would satisfy him, quantify the value of her pride in a way he could grasp.

Instead she laughs. The tightness in her chest squeezing until she finally gives in and it bubbles up and out of her mouth as a choking, cackling, doubled over, tears in her eyes laugher. Jumin pats her back and waits for the moment to subside.

“We’re fucking idiots,” she manages, between wheezes.

“I can agree to at least part of that statement,” Jumin says dryly.

“You know I thought it went without saying,” she starts, taking a deep breath, “but maybe you need to hear it. If we get there and we have to go before a judge, and he’s completely fucking unreasonable, I will be happy to accept your offer.”

She’s still doubled over, hugging her knees. She hates having to say it out loud almost as much as she hates not having said it sooner. She can feel Jumin tap his fingers thoughtfully along her spine.

“Would it not have saved both of us a lot of hurt to have said that sooner?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugs, “I mean it hurts to say it out loud, I just kept hoping you’d, I don’t know, trust me, or something.”

“That’s foolish, you sound like Zen, why would it hurt you to accept someone’s help, especially considering you’ve accepted conditionally.”

“Yeah, I grasp that,” she snorts. “It’s just, I get why it’s such a big deal to you. Don’t act like is altruism, neither you or your father want to pay that much money for an American lawyer because you’re just that nice. You want me and Saeyoung and Max back here as soon as possible.”

“I’ve never pretended this was anything less than selfish on my part, I simply assumed our goals were the same.”

“I mean they are but,” she sighs again as they pull into her driveway. Letting the conversation drop until they get in the house. Saeyoung isn’t home yet and Max has been in the States with T for 3 days now, as much as she hates her being this far away. Max calls her first thing in the morning, and right before bed every night, she emails her whenever she can. Callie and the Twins will be leaving in less than a week.

“I hate the idea of leaving all of this for more than just a visit,” she drops her things by the door and kicks off her boots before she trudges through to the living room and flops on the big plush couch.

“Then let me help,” Jumin implores her. He kneels next to her and presses his forehead to hers. “I’ve accepted that we can’t be married, Saeyoung is a better husband than I am. But please let me help you with this, for all of us, Max included.

She brushes his hair out of his face. “I thought when he left me, that was it, you know? I was so far gone that I just accepted it. I thought ok we can just live together as roommates, we’ll rent another house and parent and just be different, and then other people pointed out that that was weird. I started to get that it wasn’t really an even arrangement, so I moved out.

“Then I thought that was it, I mean we could be friends, he’d visit until he got orders, and he did, and he called and I accepted less than Max deserved because we’re nice people and I could just ask if something came up. And then other people pointed out that seemed like a bad idea, wouldn’t having something on paper be good for both of us? Then something came up and it wasn’t a good time, and then something else came up and it was a very bad time, and then there was an emergency and he was in the middle of getting orders closer and absolutely not.

“So when everyone said I needed to just get the piece of paper, because if he’s such a good person what’s the paper hurt, I did it, I mean I drug my heels, I let it take forever but I did it. And I told him, because they’re right. And you know what?”

“He was mad,” Jumin says and kisses her palm.

“Livid, angry, pissed the fuck off. No more working together and you know what I learned? I was fucked up. Faced with all his bullshit I realized I was this unhappy ball of tightly wound feelings. Feelings I hadn’t let myself feel since before Max was born, and through it all I never let Max know, never once put blame on him.

“I sucked it up, I clawed my way back to some version of me that was closest to the one I remembered, closest to the me I missed being, I saw a doctor and dealt with the fallout of his abuse, I dealt with him. And every step of the way I did it on my own. I proved to him and myself that I didn’t need him. And he left us alone, and as much as it hurt to see Max lose faith in her Daddy it was a relief to be done.”

“And now it’s not,” he says.

“It’s not and I can feel myself twisting into that person again, packing away all the feelings I can’t control until I’m that small vibrating ball of anxiety again and I appreciate that you want to help but I need to at least try to do this alone. Maybe it’s pride, probably it is, but he knows I’m doing well here, his support was just adjusted again to reflect that and when he ultimately asks me if you paid for my lawyer, I want to be able to say no, I did.”

Jumin sits on the edge of the couch. “Why would he assume I paid for your lawyer? Why would he even concern himself with those details.”

She sighs. “Because he’s petty, because I threatened him once with your lawyers, because he continues to undervalue Saeyoung, because you are the person who worries him.”

Jumin crinkles his nose. “Why would I worry him?”

She laughs. “I don’t know, I think at first when he saw us together that day in the park he thought you’d be validation.”

“For what?”

“He likes to tell people that I am and always have been the root of his money problems, I think he thought that seeing me with the rich guy on the magazine covers and a pile of shopping bags would prove that but, just like when we were married it was almost all for Max, I didn’t even know about the one bag of things for me.”

“But at that point he’d already hired the woman you hit today.”

“I don’t know. Today was stupid. I’m going to have to email my lawyer. How bad was it?”

“I think I remember you telling Hyun that it never seems stupid in the moment.”

“Well that was a fucking lie because I was telling myself how stupid it was while I was hitting her,” she laughs.  
Jumin shakes his head. “She appeared to have a split lip and security said she complained of a loose tooth. I’m sure father will take care of it, he is fond of you.”

“Is this going to fuck me, Jumin? I should just suck it up and accept your help, after today what am I even doing?”

“You’re doing your best,” he smiles and kisses her on the forehead. “Use your decent lawyer for now, as you’ve said he has no grounds, he’s simply trying to make your life difficult. If you need my help, you just need to ask.”

“I’m sorry I’m like this,” she scrunches up her face and looks away.

“I’m not,” he smiles and smoothes back her hair. “I’m sorry I let my feelings about these things get the better of me. This is your life and I shouldn’t feel entitled to any part ofit, I shouldn’t have forced this information from you.”

“Jumin, it’s fine. I should have just explained.”

“You shouldn’t have had to, I was jealous and I felt helpless and that is not your fault, I’m sure your family will have enough to say about your choices, you did not need me acting childish.”

“God Jumin, you weren’t childish, you had every right to feel the way you felt.” She sits up and wraps herself around him. “Not everyone is T, it’s hard to remember sometimes.”

 


	41. Home 6

It’s so quiet in the house with just the two of them. Max was back in the states, Jumin’s car had been leaving as he pulled into the driveway and Saeren had gone out with Yoosung and Zen. With Callie quiet was relative of course, there was still music playing loudly for most of the day, but Callie herself hadn’t had much to say either. Not since she’d broken the news more than a week ago.

He understood of course, the way she kept to herself, the way she spoke in short precise sentences. Jumin hadn’t helped either and he’d suspected that since he hadn’t stayed they were probably still in disagreement. Not that he agreed with her stance on the situation but he understood where she was coming from, the desire to say that she’d done this on her own. There had been something relatable about the way she’d looked at him when he’d spoken in Jumin’s defense.

She’d been asleep on the couch in the living room when he came in, Max’s fuzzy pink blanket pulled up to her chin, and a bottle of water on the table next to her. Unusual for her to nap and he considered texting Jumin to see if she was ok, but he figured he would be  _informed_ if he needed to be. He turned down the stereo and eased onto the couch to take advantage of the unusual peace of the afternoon.

The music was loud again when he woke up, the sun was setting, and he could smell something cooking. Callie’s studio was open and he could see her suitcases stacked haphazardly in one corner. The bottle of water on the table was empty. He sat up and stretched, and went to figure out where she’d gotten too.

She meets him at the top of the stairs, her hair in a towel, wearing only a big tank top, under his hoody. She kisses him on the cheek and smiles a big genuine smile. “Have we even gotten a night to ourselves here yet?”

“I imagine Yoosung will follow Saeren home.”

“Apparently there’s a little get together, or it was supposed to be. Now it’s just Yoosung, and Saeren at Zen’s.”

“How did we escape?” he laughs, just glad to see her smiling.

“Jumin agreed that the entire RFA would have lunch tomorrow and I agreed that they could do a stupid sappy send off at the Airport when we leave Tuesday,” she rolls her eyes.

“Oh, he has a name again?” Saeyoung follows her to the kitchen.

She stirs the pot simmering on the back of the stove. “I guess,” she shrugs.

“Which one of you gave in?” he smirks at her.

She grabs him by his collar and kisses him. “How long since it’s just been the two of us, what does it matter.”

“So it _was_ you.” He takes her by the wrists and peppers her fingers with kisses while she laughs, stopping when he gets to the stitches. “What the fuck Callie, did you hit him?”

She pulls her hands away from him. “No, not him.”

“Cal, you definitely hit someone.”

She shrugs. “That stalker T hired was at the restaurant. Please don’t lecture me, Jumin and his Dad were both on me about the lawyer and I drank too much, ate too little and she called me a bad mother, and it just happened.”

“No, no, no,” he laughs. “No lectures here, that’s badass, babe. Did you knock her out?”

She laughs. “Fortunately I didn’t, I’m not sure exactly how bad it was to be honest, I think I kind of blacked out, I dunno, it’s a blur.”

“Wait, you got into a fist fight in a fancy restaurant, in front of Mr. Chairman? Was Jumin mad?”

She shrugs. “It wasn’t so much a fight as she yelled a lot of stuff at me, and I hit her and then she was escorted out of the building and I had a panic attack.”

He laughs. “Either way you’re a badass.”

She throws the towel from her hair at him, and he traps her in a bear hug, kissing her on top of her head before letting her go and going downstairs to change. When he gets back upstairs supper is on the table and she’s already eating, staring at her phone.

“Something interesting happening?” He asks sitting across from her.

“Jaehee was checking on me, I guess she’s at Zen’s now too, and Jumin reminding me to take my pills.”

“And did you?” He asks around a mouth full.

“After we eat,” she frowns.

They finish eating in comfortable silence and clean up together. He pushes her out of the kitchen and does the dishes himself. While he washes he can hear her on the phone, the first call that comes in is obviously Max, he hears her shuffling about, the way she forces herself to be chipper. He can hear the rattle of her pill bag and glances behind himself to where she’s come up from the basement, shaking the bag and pretending to walk with a cane. She holds out the phone and he can hear Max yelling about something.

“Chill out Max-a-billion.”

“No way, seven eight nine,” the shrill voice of an excited nine year old yells back.

Callie goes back to the call, and he finishes the dishes. She’s on the phone again when he finishes, sitting on the couch with her feet tucked under her and Max’s pink blanket over her shoulders.

“No we’re definitely not going to be there tonight, no Yoosung, not even since Jaehee is there. I’ve seen. Yes I have. Yoo- Yo- Yoos- Oh my god please don’t. Where is Jaehee, you need an adult. No not me, n-ugh!” She throws the phone at him but he just hangs up.

There are three pill bottles and a bottle of water on the coffee table in front of her, one more bottle than normal and he frowns at her as he watches her count out her pills. The new pill familiar from his brother’s collection.

“Those are all yours right?” he asks. “I mean you’re name is on those bottles.” 

She tosses them at him as she swallows the handful of pills. “Nope, found them on a bench this afternoon and thought why not get a little weird.”

All the bottles have her name on them and he’s a little disappointed in himself that he didn’t know about the new one. When had she started taking medication for anxiety? He sets the bottles back on the table.

“It’s not a big deal,” she says, guessing at his thoughts. “I’ve taken them before, just not _recently_.”

“Is it because of, you know, what’s going on?”

She shrugs. “That week you and Saeren were away, before the accident, T followed us to the park, or maybe it was a coincidence? I don’t know. I had an anxiety attack and Jumin made me talk to his doctor and they prescribed me these, but I haven’t really needed them. After today I think I need to give myself a break though.”

He lays out next to her with his head in her lap. “You know Jaehee was right the other day, you do give Mr. Director a lot of control.”

Callie stops curling his hair around her fingers and frowns down at him. “Spying on me? In our own home? Very sneaky sis.” He doesn’t laugh and she rolls her eyes. “I don’t give Jumin any more than I give to you, or Max.”

“Hey, I’m not complaining, we’re all assholes in our own way, but we both know he doesn’t always realize he’s taking advantage.”

“And I don’t exactly have a great history of standing up for myself. Is that what you’re saying?”

_Well fuck,_ he thinks. He didn’t know when the words were coming out of his mouth, but she’s right, and he’s not exactly sure he should feel bad about his concern. He covers his face with his hands. “I don’t know Callie.”

“I stand by what I said, the things I do for Jumin are just more obvious than the things I do for you.”

“Like what?” He asks, realizing the implications of that question he quickly adds, “I’m just curious, I’ve never thought that you might just do things for me.”

“Well,” she says thoughtfully, “I have a bunch of clothes with patterns that make Jumin uncomfortable separate in the closet, which isn’t much different than my not drinking when it’s just you and I.”

“What, I never noticed.”

“Well think about when I was in Rika’s apartment, what was I doing in the evening?”

“Mostly you were on your computer, or your phone,” he says thoughtfully. “And I guess you had a glass or two of wine.”

She shakes the bottle of Xanax at him. “Compromise.”

“I didn’t ask you to though.” He says a little defensively.

“Jumin didn’t ask me to stop wearing those, he doesn’t even usually tell me if a print bothers him, but I know he has his thing with diagonals and I can tell by his body language, just like I know you get uncomfortable when I drink alone, even if it’s only one drink. I can handle Jumin Han.

They sit in silence again and she starts to play with his hair again. “You know Saeyoung, everyone is always really concerned that I let people take advantage of me because of T, and I get it, there’s this 10 year period of questionable life choices but I’m getting really sick of defending my ability to stand up for myself to people who’ve never seen me small.”

“It’s been a rough few weeks,” he starts.

“More like a rough month,” she laughs.

“But you know what,” he turns and sits up. “We’re fucking totally married now.”

“Well you know what that means?” She smiles.

“You’re gonna make me blush Missus.”

Callie cackles. “It means you trade all your cars in for tricked out mini vans.”

“No!” He gasps.

“You’re a Dad now Mr. Choi,” she gives him a gentle push and he falls over still frozen in horror.

“Mini vans and SUVs with dvd players. No more fancy sports cars.”

“Well we’ll just have to get divorced, or sell Max to Jumin. He’d buy a kid right? Like a playmate for Elly?”

“That sounds perfectly reasonable,” she laughs. She stands and walks to her studio; she slides the suitcases out and fiddles with the music. “Uh do you mind not watching me?”

“Watching you? Was I watching you?” He smirks.

“You are.”

“Just out of curiosity what am I not watching you do.”

“ _Saeyoung_.”

“Of course I’m not going to watch you do whatever you’re going to do,” he says, hand over his heart. “But just between you me and the bumblebees, what am I not watching? Are you going to do hard drugs? Maybe kill someone? Dispose of a body?” he gets increasingly excited with each suggestion. “Do you have a cat in there? Did you get me a cat for Christmas?”

“Surana has the studio closed for the Holidays, visiting her Mom in London, I didn’t get to rehearse today, I’m just going to stretch, please don’t make me close the doors.” She’s blushing, she so rarely blushes.

“You can _dance_?” He gasps and laughs. “Callie I’ve seen you dance with Zen here, days ago, I’ve watched you from the weird little window in Surana’s studio.”

“I know,” she laughs. “But I’m not dancing, I’m just stretching.”

“Can I help?”

“Really,” she’s surprised, “I mean I guess but you have to trust me ok?”

He gets up and helps her fold down the desk in the studio, she only turns one of the shelving units. He knows there are things that Zen and her do together but he’s only ever seen her go through actual dance positions not the stretching, never the prep. So he watches her from the corner of the studio run through her extensions.

“Come here,” she says softly and points to her foot where it rests on the bar. “Can you push my leg up until I tell you to stop? I think if you help I should be able to rest my heel on your shoulder from here but I’ll tell you to stop if I’m wrong.”

“Is this how you picked up boys when you were young?” He waggles his eyebrows but does what she asks.

She frowns and he can see her adjust her balance more than once. “It worked better on girls when I was in highschoo— Stop! St-stop there.”

He does what he’d told, holding her foot around armpit height.

“Can you hold me steady there for a count of 20?”

He nods. They repeat this a few times switching legs, switching positions. She stretches on her own for a while and then calls him in to push her past her boundaries. They joke around, make small talk, she always estimates that she can go about four inches farther than she really can and he suspects she’s pushing the envelope to go as far as she is, having only been back to dance for a few weeks.

It’s nice to listen to her talk about herself when she was younger, without the regrets, or the longing. He’s never been to high school and his University experience had been so controlled. He knows she feels awkward sometimes because of their age difference but Saeyoung has spent all his time around people older than him, Yoosung and Zen are the first people his own age he’d ever really had the chance to connect with. He laughs when she complains that she forgets she’s not in her 20s anymore because most of the time he thinks he has to be over 30.

“Are you packed?” she asks when they’re finished.

“Are we going somewhere?”

She shoves him.

He shrugs. “I was going to in the morning.”

She groans. “We’re going to be there for at least a month, if we’re lucky. I’ve been packed for a week.”

“And unpacked, and then packed again because you keep packing things you need,” he teases.

“Ok so I’m neurotic, you’re brother finished packing yesterday, tomorrow is the last day and now we have _plans_ , Saeyoung,”

He laughs. “I guess I can start tonight, if you haven’t used all the suitcases.”

“You will be greatly rewarded,” she smiles and kisses him. 

He helps her into the brace, now mostly restricted to wearing it to bed so that she didn’t mess up her recovery in her sleep, she watches him pull his suitcases out of the closet. She can’t watch him pack, he just throws things in suitcases, barely folded. She teases him at first, calling out that he’ll have to do his own ironing, until it becomes obvious that his haphazard idea of packing actually bothers her and she buries her nose in her phone.

Considering what she said earlier he starts folding the things he’s tossed into his suitcase. He can hear her laughing softly, and the shutter sound of her phone camera. She’s asleep when he finishes, he can’t pack his equipment until tomorrow, just in case, and he figures this should sate her.

He crawls into bed next to her and wraps his arms around her, but she’s fast asleep, phone still in her hand. He considers waking her up, she _had_ said something about a reward, and she’s never complained before, but she’d had an eventful day. He plugs her phone in and snuggles in next to her.

This was being married, and being married was pretty cool.

 


	42. Home 7

“You look angry.”  He didn’t mean to actually make her mad, he was pretty sure that was just her morning face with how much they had to do before lunch today but as soon as he’d said it she managed to actually look angrier and he could see where he’d been mistaken. “O-oh, okay Cal, ok, sorry,” he holds up his hands.  “Didn’t mean it I swear.”

Her face softens and she looks tired. “You promised me, you know?  I know this is frustrating but you’ve made your point.”

“Could you elaborate?”  He can’t help the goofy grin on his face, he’s not sure what he did.

“I mean, it’s not like he’s going to figure it out, but just please stop messing with T ok?”

He laughs, “Cal, Babe, Jagi, my messy princess,” she groans and wrinkles her nose, “when have I had a minute to mess with T?  I am up to my neck setting all my security accounts up so all I need to do are maintenance while we’re away, Babe.  I haven’t had a second to mess with Zen or Yoosung let alone hack into the US military.”

“If it’s not you,” she shakes her head, “I mean he thinks he pissed of a clerk, it’s possible I guess.”  He holds out his arms and she falls into them, “I’m sorry Saeyoung, ugh I’m the worst.”

He laughs, “You are like the top ten worst things to ever happen to me.”

She groans and he kisses her hair.  “What time is lunch?”

This was not what he’d had in mind. It made him uncomfortable. Not Calliope and Ms. Kang being friends, he knew they would both respect his boundaries but it seemed they had few boundaries between themselves. He’d spent years molding his assistant into, well not this.

Not the woman standing on a table dancing with his girlfriend. Not that Saeyoung seemed to mind, he observed. Jaehee had recently stopped wearing her glasses, she’d started growing out her hair. He knew Calliope had encouraged her to.

“ Even if you’re Dad is suddenly into Jaehee,” Calliope had chided when he’d complained. “He’s not going to seduce my best friend, and even if he tried do you really have such a low of an opinion of Jaehee, to think she’d be into him?”

She’d been right but still this display was not at all to his taste. It didn’t last though and when the song ended the two of them collapse laughing against one another while Saeyoung cheers and Zen looks confused.

“ I don’t want to sound,  _ you know _ ,” Yoosung says beside him, “but that was kind of weird right?”

Jumin starts to answer that,  _ yes _ he also thought that was strange but Yoosung continues.

“ Maybe it’s just because it was Jaehee and Callie.”

“ Perhaps you should invest more time into people closer to your age,” Jumin suggests instead.

She’s laughing, leaning against her bestfriend and wishing that this was just a regular night. Saeyoung grabs her around the waist and pulls her off the table swinging her in a wide arc and setting her down in time to see Zen awkwardly helping a blushing Jaehee down.

Lunch had turned into a whole afternoon and a bottle of wine had turned into cocktails and then shots, and even Saeyoung was drinking. Jumin had rented out a small restaurant Callie made sure he’d doubled his offer before they left, parting ways with the rest of the RFA she’d shoved her keys at Jaehee and insisted that she go back to the house with Saeren. She and Luciel would be staying with Jumin tonight.

She’d cut straight to Jumin’s shower when they got back, she might shower three more times, just thinking about 14 hours on a plane made her want to never step foot out of the stream of hot water. She breathes deep in the steam and rolls her shoulders, her neck, does her physio stretches. She’d promised Jumin she would wear the brace for the whole day tomorrow, just to ease his mind, but the thought made her cringe. She was almost free.

Jumin’s penthouse is quiet when she finally forces herself out of the shower. She slips into her room and changes into a pair of leggings and a sweater, her uniform Yoosung had teased her. She can hear soft music playing, the music Jumin leaves on for Elizabeth when he’s not home and reaches down to where the fluffy white cat is stretched across her bed and scratches her behind the ears.

Elizabeth makes the funny little noise that Saeyoung calls kitty activation and rolls over onto her back. Callie lays down on the bed next to her. She was even going to miss this cat. Her family was supposed to come here for Christmas this year, they’d been planning is since early summer, and Jumin had even offered to cover their airfare as his gift to Callie.

Despite the hassle of finding someone to cover the homestead for a week, her parents had been disappointed when she’d let them know the plans had changed, and she dreaded having to tell them that she was legally married with zero ceremony.

“ Ok, I know,  _ pushy _ ,” she says when Elizabeth puts her paws on Callies face and gently pushes her away. She gives the cat one more belly rub before she pushes herself off the bed and goes to see what Jumin and Saeyoung are doing.

It’s not common for them, and when she’s sees them there in the open floor of the living room she slows her pace and watches. They loved one another, as much as she loved them both, she’d never doubted that, but opportunities for them to be close like this did not happen often, not where she could see them.

Saeyoung’s cheek rests against Jumin’s shoulder, his arms loose around the taller man’s waist, Jumin’s chin resting against the top of Saeyoung’s head, one hand playing gently with his hair, the other draped over his shoulder, they swayed to the soft ambient music that came from speakers all over the penthouse.

She smiles, the sight of them warms her heart, of course they’ll miss one another as much as she’ll miss being the three of them, as much as they appreciate just being two sometimes, being three was their natural state. As awkward and formal as the arrangement had started it had become genuine care very quickly.

She goes to the kitchen and gets a bottle of water from the fridge, she knows they’ve heard her when she slips onto the sofa and stretches out, the way they stiffen slightly knowing they’re being watched, the way Saeyoung tightens his arms around Jumin just a little before letting them drop, the way Jumin buries his nose in Saeyoung’s hair just before they separate.

They smile at her and shuffle around the penthouse for a minute. Jumin pours himself a glass of wine, Saeyoung grabs a soda from the fridge, something kept there just for him. Elizabeth saunters out of the bedroom and jumps into Callie’s lap, Jumin sits down behind where Callie sits in the middle of the plush sofa instead of his usual chair by the window, he pulls his girlfriend and his cat back until she’s leaning with her head rested against the same shoulder that had cradled her husband’s cheek so recently.

Jumin turns on the TV, and they listen to Saeyoung rummaging around the kitchen while they argue over which Holiday movie to watch. It’s not long before Saeyoung swings his legs over the back the couch and lands in Callie’s lap startling the cat. Callie laughs while Jumin scolds him, he just laughs and stretches his legs over the arm of the sofa, his head resting against her stomach.

Elizabeth doesn’t stay gone for long, she leaps up onto Saeyoung this time and stretches herself along his shoulder so that her head also rests on Callie. She purrs loudly when Jumin pauses briefly in his search on a children’s version of A Christmas Carol. Saeyoung and Callie cheer.

“ Really, this is for  _ children _ ,” he groans. “I was hoping we could watch Alistair Sims, or the one with Michael Caine as one of the ghosts.”

“ Three against one,” Saeyoung laughs.

“ Michael Caine is in this though.”

“ His co-stars are puppets,” Jumin frowns.

“ Muppets!” Saeyoung and Callie correct.

Callie is the first to fall asleep, she makes it to the end of the movie and insists they watch another Muppet Christmas movie, falling fast asleep before the opening credits even end. Jumin attempts to change the channel but both Elizabeth and Saeyoung protest. They discuss moving Callie to the bed but they’re very comfortable in their pile on the sofa.

Saeyoung falls asleep as the second film ends, and Jumin puts on Alistair Sims’ Scrooge. “They’re bad influences,” he mumbles when Elizabeth makes a small sound of protest.

He’s not far behind Saeyoung, falling asleep to the sounds of rattling chains. His last thought a wish that he could be boarding a plane with them tomorrow.

Leaving had been a production. Everyone had met them in the airport, complete with the Paparazzi that followed Jumin waiting, phones and camera’s flashing when they got out of the car. She suspected the incident at the restaurant had spurred this renewed interest and hid her face in Saeyoung’s sweater while Jumin’s security made a barrier between them and the crowd.

She cursed under her breath that she’d let Jumin talk her into wearing the brace for the flight, his peace of mind had been one thing but the reporters yelling accusations at them was a totally different story. She was relieved to see the rest of the RFA, to be ushered as a group through security, to not have to worry about customs until they landed.

Saeren is waiting for them at their gate. Not interested in the long goodbyes. They say their goodbyes, and Callie finds herself trying to find places in carry on for a few small gifts for Max from Yoosung and Jaehee. They gatecheck the boys computers, Callie’s guitar and find their seats.

The flight does not go well. It’s long, Callie hates flying, and Saeren has never flown. They’re four or more hours from landing when Saeren’s nails dig into her arm. Saeyoung is asleep in the aisle seat and she’s in the middle.

He’d been on edge all morning.

“ You ok?” She asks, but she knows he’s not. A quick glance at her phone and she knows he probably should have taken his meds somewhere over the Atlantic.

He shakes his head slowly.

She can recognise the signs of disassociating; she suspects he might be verging on the edge of a panic attack. She squeezes his hand. “Try to visualize playing something on your guitar, I’ll see if I can find your pills.”

He breathes in and nods.

Saeyoung wakes up as she’s pushing past him. She’s already on edge, and she knows she has two little pills in her purse if her own anxiety decides to manifest any more. She trips over his feet and he catches her.

“ You ok?” He asks.

She laughs, tries to be quiet about it but it comes out as a wheeze. “Which bag is Saeren’s?” She says quietly and Saeyoung instantly turns to his brother. She grabs him by the face. “Which bag?”

He stands up, helps her look. They check all the their carry on, and find nothing. A few people around them have woken up, and Saeyoung has gone with flight attendants to look in the bags they’d checked at the gate.

She slides back in next to Saeren. His breathing his precise, and calculated.

“ Hey,” she says. “Do you remember what bag you put them in?”

She can see his fingers twitch, he’s still playing guitar in his head, he doesn’t miss a beat when he turns and looks at her,  _ through her _ . “Black,” he says, “I think there’s a pokemon keychain Max gave me on it.”

“ Shit bud,” she says through her teeth, “I think you checked that one.”

“ What?”

“ That’s not any of the bags we have right here. Seven is checking the computer bags but I don’t think—”

“ Fuck!” His fist slams against the wall and she can see the eyes on them. A flight attendant moves towards them but she puts her hand up and shakes her head. Saeyoung his behind her shaking his head.

Callie pushes her armrest up and slides closer to her brother in law. She slides her hand into his and squeezes. She reaches between her feet with her other hand and pulls her purse into her lap. She fishes around until she finds the bottle Jumin’s doctor had given her. It was supposed to be one pill per flight. “You take these right?”

He looks at the bottle suspiciously for a moment and nods. “You only have two left.”

“ I only had two to begin with, for emergencies. Kinda seems like one.”

Saeyoung is still standing at the front of the plane with the flight attendants, they look deep in conversation.

“ I take a higher dose than these, I’d need both.”

“ It’s fine. I know it’s not everything but it’ll help right?” He nods slowly, let’s go of her hand and takes the bottle. After he takes them he puts his headphones on and leans forward his head in his hands and she rubs his back. By the time Saeyoung is sitting beside her again Saeren is practically in her lap, sleeping. It’s not long before Saeyoung is asleep on her shoulder and she’s wondering how many tiny airplane glasses of wine she’d have to drink before she could be asleep too.

She’s relieved when they finally get through customs and there’s no one waiting for them. No crowd of friends, no family, no reporters. Just the usual airport bustle. She points Saeyoung to the rental car line up and tells him to wait. Their bags somehow end up being in the first batch on the conveyer belt, she practically throws them off, digging into the back with the Pokemon keychain until and tossing Saeren his pill bag.

They’re pushing the cart to Saeyoung in the rental line when someone grabs her from behind and swings her around.

“ Hey, hey, hey!” She yells pulling away and turning.

Her niece is cackling behind her, doubled over.

“ Yeah, funny Nina, Jesus Christ,” Callie catches her breath.

“ Sorry I’m late, you were easy to find though, Uncle Wyatt said to look for the soulless child-bride.”

“ Are you kidding me? This isn’t even my husband.”

“ Husband?!” Nina squeals. “What!”

“ I’ll get my idiot brother,” Saeren says shaking his head.

“ Tell him his idiot wife found a ride,” she frowns.

“ You’re married though,” Nina asks. “No one told me.”

“ No one knows yet, don’t tell Oma and Opa, we rushed it for court, it’s not a big deal we haven’t actually done a ceremony or anything.”

“ Secrets and lies, Aunty Cal,” Nina scolds.

“ What are you even doing here, shouldn’t you be with Celia and T?”

“ It’s Gilles year and he let me decide between going to Quebec with him or staying with Oma and Opa until he comes back this weekend. “

“ I wonder how that’s gonna end up being my fault?”

“ Nah,” Nina laughs. “Mom and Uncle T dropped Max off last night and you were already on a plane so they can’t blame you.”

“ Oh I’m sure they can find a way,” Callie laughs. “Max is already at Mom and Dad’s though?”

Nina nods.

Saeyoung is there then, lifting her and spinning her like Nina had just done.

“ Alright someone help me take the torture sleeve off so I can defend myself,” Callie growls.

“ No way!” Nina and Saeyoung laugh. But Saeren helps her loosen what she can’t reach and she shoves it into a suitcase without looking.

“ So what, is that like a sympathy thing?” Nina laughs while Callie stretches her arm, the three of them following her niece to parking.

“ What did your Mom tell you about my accident?”

“ Accident? She didn’t, she just said you hurt yourself and I figured it was the usual, you look fine now. What happened?”

“ Uh,” Callie pales.

“ Car accident,” Saeren says.

“ It even made the American news, Oma stranded Wyatt in Korea. I’m surprised you didn’t see.”

“ So it was bad?”

“ I mean it should have been worse, we were all pretty lucky, but I was in the hospital a while and I’m still doing physio.”

“ Down to twice a week though,” Saeyoung cheers and they high five.

“ I only really need to wear the sling at night, I should be cleared after my next appointment with the surgeon, which will be whenever this bullshit is over I guess.” Callie helps the boys shove their suitcases in the trunk of her parents big Buick.

“ If it makes you feel any better,” Nina says when they get into the car, “Uncle T is freaking out.”

Callie grunts. “He seemed pretty confident when he was threatening me in the hospital.”

“ What?” Saeren and Saeyoung ask.

Callie waves them off.

“ I don’t know I try to tune them out when Uncle T comes over. But just before I left he came over with all this paperwork and he kept yelling about pictures, and lawyers.”

“ Well it’s nice to know I can afford a scary lawyer on my own.” Callie smiles.

“ And it only cost you two sprained fingers to fix his picture flow,” Saeren laughs.

“ What?” Nina asks?

“ It’s nothing, I hit a stalker.” Callie shrugs.

“ And that stopped pictures for Uncle T?”

“ The stalker was a PI he hired.” Saeyoung clarifies.

“ She was selling pictures to trashy magazines,” Saeren adds.

“ Isn’t your new life exciting.” Nina laughs.


	43. Home 8

He’d been worried. He was not a Christmas person, not a family person, and his brother was not a people person but here they were. The three of them at the Miller family homestead; an entire day on a plane away from home. He’d stopped her at the door when they’d gotten there. Saeren and Nina walking ahead of them into the house.

“ What’s wrong?” Callie asks him as the door closes ahead of them.

“ What if they don’t like me?” He whispers.

“ What?”

“ Your family, what if they don’t like me?” He’s never met anyone’s parents before. He’s not a likeable person, especially this time of year.

“ Well,” she smiles at him, “Dad doesn’t like anyone so don’t take it personally. Nina seems to think you’re ok, you’ve already met Wyatt and Martin so you don’t even have to worry about that, if Celia decides to show up she’ll hate you but that’s my fault not yours, you only really have to worry about Mom and even if she doesn’t like you, you’ll never know.”

“ Wow, really Callie?” He throws his hands in the air. He’d been hoping for a pep talk.  _ Dad likes memes, mom likes cars, you’ll be fine _ . Not,  _ don’t worry they’re not going to like you anyway _ .

“ Besides, Dad will be working in the barn right now and Mom’s car is gone, you’re safe for now.” She pulls him into her coat, his arms slip around her and hold her tight and she smiles up at him when he kisses her.

Wyatt whistles at them from the doorway and Saeyoung jumps, practically dropping her, he blushes deeply.

“ Jesus Wyatt,” she laughs and shoves her brother.

“ I was just wondering what was taking so long.” He laughs.

Callie practically puts him to bed despite it being mid afternoon. Max is in the barn with her grandfather and Callie whines that she’s exhausted. They might have napped on the flight but she’d been wide awake. Saeren is understandably tired also but he can see that his brother is back to himself since they’ve landed and he’s gotten his hands on his proper meds.

He wakes up a few hours later and Callie is gone. He’s halfway down the stairs when he hears her arguing with her father.

“ He’s not like that Dad.”

“ You’ve said that before.”

“ Yeah I know, I get it.”

“ God Amy he’s closer to Nina’s age than yours.”

“ You haven’t even talked to him, Dad.”

“ Where is he Amy? I’m seeing a lot of similarities, that’s all.”

“ We had a 14 hour flight Dad, I made him go to sleep.”

“ Hey, Babe,” Saeyoung says turning into the room.

“ See, here he is Dad,” Callie smirks and grabs his hand tight in hers.

“ Nice to meet you Mr. Miller.” He smiles.

There’s no movement across the table and Callie squeezes his hand before letting go. “Do you want a coffee?” She asks, “A drink Dad? It  _ is _ Christmas eve tomorrow.”

Her father raises a can of beer at her.

“ A soda,” he manages to spit out, and when she moves towards the fridge he puts himself in her path, “are they in the fridge? I can get it.” He makes a note of the way her father’s head tilts slightly, the way she smiles a little smug. “Where’s Max, I can’t believe I didn’t wake up with 60lbs of judo master on my chest.”

Another stutter of movement from Callie’s father.

“ She’s skating with Nina,” Callie smiles. “So you have roughly an hour before she attacks you with her tiny icicle fingers.”

Later, after her mother has come home and Max has come inside he finds himself cornered by the stairs. Callie buries her face inside his sweater and takes a few ragged breaths before laughing.

“ What?” He smoothes her hair.

“ Nothing,” she smiles. “Just thanks for being you.”

He figures out quickly that the key to Callie’s father is to be useful. The bar is set pretty low, he gets nods of approval simply by offering to get his own drinks, playing with Max. Saeren is almost immidiatly accepted, he suspects because he’s not sharing a bed with their youngest daughter but it could be the fact that he took it upon himself to fix every computer in the house.

“ Dad,” a little voice whispers to him from the doorway to the living room where he’s working.

“ What’s up Killer?” He smiles over his laptop from where he’s slouched on the couch.

It’s Christmas Eve morning and he’s been kicked out of the kitchen. Callie told him if he had any work to do it right now so he’s been picking away at the little bit of work he’d brought with him. Mostly RFA related.

Max drags him to the barn where there are more cats than he’d ever imagined. “Look!” she squeals holding up a tiny ball of fluff.

He almost shrieks. “Wow, wow, Max, kiddo, you’ve been holding out on me.”


	44. Home 9

It’s not surprising that when she goes looking for her daughter at noon on Christmas Eve she finds her, and her husband laying in the hay loft covered in cats. She doesn’t sigh, doesn’t frown, it’s really all she can do not to flop down with them.

“ Ok freeloaders, kitty daycare is over, time to finish putting Christmas out for the party tonight.”

“ But Mom,” Saeyoung whines. Max giggles.

They’re hanging lights when it happens.

“ Is there something we can cook tomorrow for you boys?” Callie’s mother asks when they’re hanging up more lights. “We haven’t done a Korean Christmas in a long time but I’m sure I have some recipes somewhere if you’re homesick.”

The twins glance at each other for a moment and Callie holds her breath, she’s told her mother before that they had had a  _ difficult _ childhood. She hadn’t gone into detail and she couldn’t tell if her mother was pressing them for information or simply forgot.

“ It’s ok Mrs. Miller,” Saeren says stepping back from his freshly strung lights.

“ Are you sure?”

“ No it’s fine. We don’t usually even do anything for Christmas.” Saeyoung adds.

_ Fuck _ . Her mother eyes her behind their backs and she knows she’s going to have to hear about it. It had been bad enough that she’d had to spend last Christmas in Korea without Max, her parents had been upset, they knew it was out of her control, despite the fact that she couldn’t tell them why she was being held, why everyone her father knew couldn’t even find anything.

She couldn’t tell Saeyoung that most of the hostility her father had towards him was because all his intelligence contacts could say was  _ that kid’s so classified he wipes his ass with my clearance papers _ . Not to mention every time she manages to convince them he’s nothing like her ex-husband they force him to say something like this.

“ I thought you said he was different Amy,” her mother says, cornering her in the kitchen with a glass of wine.

“ Mom, people can not like Christmas and not be assholes. They’re helping right? T wouldn’t be helping.”

“ You didn’t come home last year and they don’t do anything for the Holidays was it worth it?”

“ Mom, it’s not like I just fucked off last year, I wish I could tell you what happened.”

“ You said you were done with this.” Her mother throws her hands up.

“ Done with what, Mom?”

“ The Military, Amy men who don’t deserve you? What happened to that nice man who came with you to get Max last year?”

“ _ Jumin _ ?”

“ The one with the nice suits, he was closer to your age Amy, and Max seems to really like him. Why did you go for another boy with his nose stuck in a computer and the military to keep his secrets?”

“ Mom,” she doesn’t know if she should laugh or cry. She wishes she could explain everything but at the same time how could she tell her mother that she was kidnapped, that she was almost killed. That her boyfriend let her stay in an apartment with a bomb or that the timid, smaller Choi tried to set it off, that he killed someone? None of that would help the situation. She sighs and chugs the glass of wine.

“ Amy.”

“ I know it’s hard to be in the dark,” she starts, “Luciel isn’t military and he’s not,” she pauses looking for the right words, “the work he does is classified, or was, it mostly isn’t anymore aside from NDAs.”

“ Are you really so certain, Amy?” Her mother asks.

“ Fuck me right? I’m a terrible judge of character; I should just let you make all my choices from now on.”

“ Don’t be a child Amy, I’m just worried.”

“ Mom, I can’t tell you what happened but it’s not a big secret he’s keeping from me, I was there.”

“ And is he why you’re back on your meds?”

“ Mom!” She almost yells, it comes out sharp.

“ I see you and the quiet boy with your handful of pills.”

“ I take one anxiety medication, the rest are for my shoulder.”

“ I thought you had that under control.”

“ I did, Luciel is not why I’m on my meds again, this bullshit with T is.”

“ Alright,” her mother shrugs. “You have to understand why we’d be concerned.”

“ What about Wyatt, Mom?” She never defended T like this, and Wyatt hated T. Her brother’s opinion had to stand for something. “I know Wyatt and Martin would have reported in after they saw me in the hospital.”

“ What about Max, Amy?”

“ Max loves him, she calls him Dad when she thinks no one is listening.”

“ What,” he mother freezes.

Callie smiles. “Yeah, it started just before she left for T’s. But she’s self conscious about it, she only calls him Dad if she doesn’t think the people around will be upset.”

“ Does Toby know?”

“ Fuck no. He thinks we’re screening his calls from her because she didn’t want to talk to him, can you imagine the retaliation for that? It’s bad enough he hired the paparazzi detective to follow me around and harass me at work.”

“ What? How does your boyfriend feel about this?”

“ Well if Luciel had his way T wouldn’t exist, he'd be broke and homeless or in a military prison somewhere, but I won't let him. I’m pretty sure he still fucks with him in little ways but if I could prove it he wouldn’t be very good at what he does.”

“ And what  _ does _ he do? You told him to work and he stuck his nose in a computer.”

“ Cyber security mostly these days,” she laughs to herself.

“ And cyber security is what had you held in Korea last Christmas? Cyber security is why your father’s friends in Intelligence can’t get a bead on this kid?”

“ Mom, can you stop asking about that?”

“ Can you give me something?”

“ Mom it’s not that easy. I don’t even know that I’m not relieved I can’t tell you what happened. It wasn’t his fault but it was,” she sighs, “It wasn’t a party mom. I mean it started as a party but I didn’t shirk shit to party with college kids and rich people. I didn’t even go to the party and that’s the part I can’t talk about.”

“ Jesus Amy, that’s not reassuring.”

“ I don’t know what to tell you. It’s over, and I wish you would just trust me that Luciel is not T, and I’m happy and he makes me happy.”

“ I suppose you’re only here for a few more days before you have to go and deal with Toby. I shouldn’t fight with you.”

Red hair peeks around the doorway. “Your door is knocking,” Luciel smiles. “Do I answer it? Is it strangers?”

Her mother groans and pushes past him to answer the door.

“ It sounded intense in here, was that my fault?”

Callie snorts. “Mom and Dad don’t like not knowing things, and they can’t be nosy about you.”

“ Your old man ran a background check on me?”

“ Tried to but you’re highly classified.”

“ Defender of Justice 707 has to keep his identity protected.”

“ Strange that you’ve been out of the game so long and there’s still nothing much to know.”

“ Hackers gotta hack, Babe,” he kisses her on the forehead.

She hands him as many trays of food from the fridge as he can carry and then loads her own arms and leads him to the dining room.

“ You know, you and Max are highly classified now too,” he smiles.

“ What?”

“ I mean, I  _ am _ out of the game but it seemed prudent to cover your asses too. If your Dad went looking for you he’d find the same.”

“ Really?”

“ Well, if someone in the agency decided they didn’t like how things ended I don’t want you guys easy to find.”

“ I never really thought about that. I mean, I know retaliation is a possibility or the house wouldn’t be more secure than the bunker but I never considered Max and I needing to be hard to find.”

He shrugs.

“ Isn’t it hard to hide me though? I mean between Jumin and the show I’m pretty out there.”

“ Babe,” he kisses her on the forehead again and smooths her hair. “I mean,” he gestures to himself, “Defender of Justice.”

“ Oh my god,” she shakes her head.

“ Exactly, _God_ Seven.” He laughs.

“ I should have brought Jumin,” she snorts.

“ I’m wounded,” he clutches his chest and she shoves him.

“ At least my mother already likes him,” she tries not to laugh when he throws himself on the floor dramatically. “He’s considerably less work.”

Searen clears his throat in the doorway to the dining room. “Is he ok?”

“ I’m dead,” Saeyoung groans from the floor.

“ I killed him with words,” she shrugs.

“ He never could handle the truth,” Saeren shakes his head. “Your mother is looking for you.”


	45. Home 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for a little bit of transphobia.

“ This is stupid, this is the worst, this is stupid, and it sucks, I’m an adult,” Callie is singing under her breath, standing near the doorway shuffling from foot to foot.

“ Babe, you wanna sit down,” he asks.

“ And miss all this?” She snorts.

This was a punishment, she’d told him when her mother had told her to stick to the dining room, greet people, keep the plates on the table full. It seemed innocuous enough but he knew they were all in some kind of trouble.  A few family members had shown up early, and it probably didn’t help that Callie and her Mom had already seemed to be arguing. He knew it was mostly his fault, she could tell him it wasn’t all she wanted but they were arguing about him and she’d been right; her mother was nothing but kind and smiling to his face, there was no way to know if he was doing the right things.

“ Amy, Amy, Amy,” her uncle had said grabbing her by the shoulders and starting to shake.

He and Saeren had both jumped up but Callie had already twisted out of his grasp. She was rolling her bad shoulder, the sleeve pulled away like the tiny surgical scar could tell her if she was okay or not. He could see the way she was flexing her fingers.

“ Jesus, Amy, since when are you jumpy?” Another Uncle chuckled.

“ No that’s cool,” she’d growled without looking up, “I just had a bunch of tendons reattached like a month ago, I could really go for wearing an immobilizing brace for another week.”

“ Sorry,” the Uncles had said in unison.

“ What’s this,” an Aunt cut in, trying to cut the tension, a finger under the gold chain around Callie’s neck. “You find religion in the back of an ambulance. Did Jesus manifest at your feet and implore you  _ help me Amelia Calliope, our choirs really blow without you _ .”

Callie shoved the cross back in her shirt, but it was too late, he could tell by the tone in her mother’s voice when they’re both called out on the porch.

“ When?” Her mother asks.

Callie looks away.

“ Amelia Calliope Francis Miller, when did you get married.”

He didn’t know what to say. Callie shrugged and her mother inhaled nostrils flaring.

“ A little over 2 weeks ago,” he had been quiet.

“ Mom it’s just a legal thing, nothing has really changed we’re still having an actual wedding in the spring, it’s just for court, it just—”

“ If you say it’s just a piece of paper, right here to my face, hiding rings under your shirts like it doesn’t mean anything.”

“ Mom,” Callie was firm when she speaks. “Not everything is about you.”

“ Don’t be childish.”

“ I’m not,” Callie had squared her shoulders and grabbed him by the hand. She took the rings off of her cross and handed Saeyoung his. “Yeah we’re married and it does mean something to me this time, it’s not just a piece of paper.”

“ So what should we all just congratulate you on your secret wedding?”

“ No,” he was still quiet but firmer when he spoke. Mrs. Miller was not his mother. She was angry and her feelings were hurt but she wouldn’t hurt Callie, not even to hurt him. “You don’t have to do anything, this isn’t how we wanted to do this, that’s why we’re having a wedding in the spring.”

“ A catholic wedding, Mom,” Callie had said with a smug tilt of her head.

“ A what?”

“ Do you think we wanted to have a shotgun wedding because my ex-husband is trying to mess with custody? That we just went yeah sure that sounds good, we’ve just set a date but nah let’s just spend 3 hours in a government building and sign a bunch of papers in a room that smells like body odor. Best wedding ever.”

“ Amy, you can’t blame me, not after—”

“ For the love of brown baby jesus Mom I am so sick of this,  _ after Toby _ , bullshit.”

“ Amy, I’m sure you understand why we’re like this.”

“ Before you knew about T,” she’d turned to him, “would you have questioned my decision making ability?”

“ No,” he said confidently, “and I didn’t mean to treat you differently after you confided in me.”

She squeezed his hand. “I asked you to stop and you did, just like Jaehee, and Jumin did. Thank you.”

Her Mother throws he hands in the air. “Point taken, but you know what you were like.”

“ Pretty fucking intimately, Mom.”

“ And you know your sister—”

“ Mom, where does Cici get her  _ news _ about me? Why does everyone treat her like the Callie daily mail? She calls me like once a month to either accuse me of saying something to Nina despite having totally ghosted me from Nina’s radar, or to plead some bullshit on T’s behalf.”

“ Ok,” he mother said firmly. “Point taken, signal received.”

He chuckled.

“ Just so you know, you’re greeting tonight.”

And so here they are in the dining room watching the front door. He watches her; she fiddles with the ring on her finger before she answers the door.

“ Auntie Elsie,” she smiles, forced, too much teeth. She hugs the white haired lady to her and then steps back and out of the way. “Mom is all the way in, Nina is on the rink with Max, Dad is in the barn with the rest of the guys, Wyatt and Martin are around here somewhere, there’s a crowd in the parlor.”

“ Where’s Celia, sweetheart?”

“ Celia won’t be here until tomorrow evening Auntie.”

“ And Wynona didn’t come home again this year?”

“ Auntie Elsie, this isn’t cute.”

“ Who is Wynona?” He whispers behind her.

“ Oh is this one of Nina’s friends?” The old lady smiles at him.

“ No Auntie, Nina doesn’t know every Korean person you see, this is my husband, Luciel.”

The old woman shrugs. “Little young for you isn’t he sweetheart.”

“ Oma will be here in an hour or so, why don’t you get a glass of wine and try not to say anything more offensive until then Ma,” another woman pushes into the door and ushers Auntie Elsie past. She shrugs and mouths apologies.

“ And that’s the token bigoted old person,” Callie frowns.

“ Who is Wynona?”

Callie frowns and looks around. “I mean it’s not my place to say.”

“ Did she die?”

“ Kind of—”

“ Elsie’s in rare form tonight,” Wyatt says from behind Callie lowering a glass of wine down between them. “Told me it was lovely to see me growing my hair out finally, and then suggested that Martin would really love it if I wore more dresses.”

“ How long do you think she’ll make it before Erin has to take her home?” Martin laughs behind them; he has a tray of shots.

Callie takes both and looks at him and he nods.

“ You want one?” Martin holds the tray out, “It’s Opa’s moonshine.”

“ Luciel doesn’t drink.”

“ Often,” Saeyoung smiles and accepts the shot.

“ To Wynona,” Wyatt laughs. “And everyone else I used to be.”

“ To Marty,” Martin smiles with an arm around Wyatt. “The closet could barely contain him.”

“ To Amy,” Callie holds her glass out. “You’re better off where you are.”

The three of them look at him and he holds out his glass. “To, uh, to Saeyoung, I’m, uh, I’m sorry.”

The three frown. “Little serious coming from you,” Wyatt laughs.

Callie elbows her brother in the ribs and they all tip back their tiny plastic glasses. He stares at it for a moment, watches Martin’s face scrunch in on itself, he inhales deeply and swallows the shot, it burns all the way down and settles hot in his stomach.

The boys cheer. Callie is smiling and shaking her head. “Do not feel like you have to do that again, and don’t let anyone tell you have to.” She’s laughing.

“ So husband number two,” the woman from earlier smiles at them around the arched doorway. “Auntie must be pissed, you’re on guard duty.”

“ Wait a second,” Wyatt frowns and grabs her hand. “These are wedding rings?”

Martin laughs, a great booming guffaw and claps Wyatt on the back. “Genius only goes so far huh?”

“ You didn’t tell  _ anyone _ ?” Erin snorts.

“ It’s complicated,” Callie laughs.

“ I put Mom in her corner, if Auntie lets you off guard duty she’ll be easy to avoid.” Erin shakes Saeyoung’s hand and waves as she walks towards the back of the house. “I’m gonna find Nina.”

They watch the door, he helps Callie keep the plates on the table full and as the time passes more people make their way into the dining room a few hours in his brother shoves through the crowd to tell them he’s tapping out. Callie stares after him longingly.

“ I mean I know it’s an anxiety thing but I still can’t help but think he’s a lucky bastard right now,” she sighs.

Max is running with other children from one end of the house to the other, full tilt and shrieking and he takes a minute here and there to chase them and Wyatt and Martin keep Callie’s wine glass full at all times. It’s around 11pm when Callie’s mother comes in and tells them to relax.

She takes him by the hand and drags him behind her, grabbing their coats on the way. She pulls him into the barn, he finds himself standing in the work room with her Dad and some Uncles, everyone eyeing him over their drinks while she disappears into storage.

“ Where’s Max,” Mr. Miller asks.

“ She went to bed a half hour ago, when the other kids left,” he says.

“ You want a drink, son?” One of the Uncles asks.

“ Oh, uh. No, that’s ok.”

They shrug and he hears a little sound of success come from the bin Callie has practically climbed into. She has a bag slung over her shoulder when she grabs his hand and drags him outside, towards the rink. One big spotlight illuminates most of the ice. Nina has some music playing and he can see her skating. She’s been in and out of the house, and Saeyoung knew other people had been skating earlier in the night.

Callie sits down in the shelter off the ice and pulls skates out of the bag. “Have you ever?” She smiles up at him and pulls off one of her boots.

He looks at the ice, Nina is skating with her eyes closed, she doesn’t seem to notice them, though the music isn’t loud and they are not trying to be quiet. “Wow,” he whispers.

“ Yeah,” Callie is smiling at her niece. Pride colours her face. “Her step-dad did really well, he coaches her now. If Celia would loosen the apron strings a little bit Nina could really go somewhere.” She points to the bag. “Wyatt’s skates should fit you.”

“ What?”

“ Come on, it’s going to clear out in there in the next half hour and I still have presents to wrap. Skate with me.”

“ You really want to see me embarrass myself like that?” He laughs.

She stands up, wobbly on her skates. “Are you telling me the Defender of Justice, Seven Zero Seven, is afraid he might fall down.”

“ You look like you’re going to fall down,” he gives her a little push and she wobbles.

“ Hey!” She laughs waving her arms until she catches her balance. “Come on, don’t wuss out on me now. You survived my mother’s wrath you can survive ice skating.”

“ At what cost?” He laughs but he sits on the bench and pulls the skates out of the bag.


	46. home 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas

“ You look like a smug asshole,” Saeran snorts when his brother hands him a coffee.

“ You look like a grumpy hedgehog,” Saeyoung chuckles and ruffles his brother’s hair.

“ She’s on her way downstairs,” Saeran ducks away from his brother.

He meets her at the bottom of the stairs and hands her a travel mug of coffee. Her hair is pulled into a mess of curls and tangles and he knows if they were home she’d have asked him to help her trim her undercut before she let anyone take pictures of her.  Instead she runs a hand through the shaggy regrowth and frowns. “Are we going somewhere?”

“ Is that my sweater?” he laughs.

She leans forward until her forehead is pressing against his collarbone before she steps off the last stair, “Saeyoung it’s so warm, don’t make me go all the way upstairs for my own stupid sweater. I’m tired.”

“ Fine, God Seven is benevolent, you may proceed.” He steps back and bows to her.

“ I imagine Mom is lording over the kitchen already,” she smiles, ignoring his prostrate frame as she moves past him.

“ She was putting a bird the size of Max in the oven when I was making coffee,” he shrugs, “if that’s what you mean.”

“ Max is inflicting my revenge on Wyatt.” He watches her worry at her lip as she slides into one of the kitchen chairs and reaches for one of the bagels in the centre of the table.

“ Dad will be in from the barn in a few minutes and Nina is in the shower, we can open gifts as soon as your brother drags himself out of bed,” her mother says without turning from the stove.

Saeyoung slides a chair up next to Callie and rests his head on her shoulder. “You’re not worried about next week are you?” He asks quietly, keeping an eye on the door for Max.

Callie’s shoulders shake in a silent laugh. “No, I just,” she pauses. “I’m being dumb; I’m worried that my homemade gifts aren’t going to go over well.”

“ Babe,” he chuckles, “I don’t think anyone is going to be disappointed.”

“ We were doing so well, but with me not working, and then the lawyer fees,” she sighs, “I know they’ll like them it’s just, I know you offered to go shopping with me, and so did Jumin before we left, it’s dumb.”

“ Hey these people seem pretty used to you being a stubborn asshole,” he gives her a little push with his shoulder and she laughs. “I can find an ATM if you want? Throw some money at anyone who’s disappointed.”

“ Saeyoung,” she warns, but she’s laughing and he can’t help but notice the way her mother’s head inclines towards them.

It’s not long before the outside door in the kitchen swings open and Callie’s father is stripping off winter coats and boots and wishing everyone Merry Christmas in his best Santa voice, followed by an apparent stampede down the stairs as Martin ducks into the kitchen with Max on his shoulders, her eyes covered.

“ Wyatt is about 4 minutes behind,” the tall man smiles widely and Callie stands up to shove a bagel in his mouth.

Saeyoung is glad he got up early, and tucked his gift to Callie under a chair in the parlor. There was no way he’d have managed to get it hidden away without notice in the chaos of her family.

Nina beats Wyatt to the kitchen, her hair still wet and slicked back. She shares the same bright orange eyes as her aunt and a similar crooked smile. “Presents,” she whispers doing her best Gollum impression and dragging Max backwards off Martin’s shoulders.

*

Callie lays in bed listening to Saeyoung sneak out of the room. She hopes he hasn’t gotten out of control with whatever he’s gotten her, hopes that, if it  _ is _ something extravagant, he and Jumin have combined efforts. It’s cold in the old farm house and she stays warm under the blankets listening to the rest of the house come alive.

She can hear the shower running in the bathroom next to her room. It’s not long before her door starts to open slowly and Max is climbing into bed with her, shoving her freezing cold feet under Callie’s legs.

“ Maxine Annette!” She almost shrieks.

Max just giggles.

“ It’s early Max, why are you up so early?”

“ Mom, you know what day it is?”

“ It’s Sunday?”

“ Moooooom,” Max whines.

“ You know Oma is not going to let you open presents until Uncle Wyatt gets up.”

It doesn’t take much to convince a nine year old that it’s her idea to wake her Uncles up on Christmas morning, Max is out of the room and Callie can hear the war cry as she slams Wyatt’s bedroom door open.

No longer sleepy and warm in her bed she slips on her Christmas tree PJ pants and grabs Saeyoung’s hoodie. She could dig around and find her own sweater but it’s cold and his is  _ right there _ flung over the dresser. Saeran is on the stairs when she slips out of her room and sneaks into the en suite in her parent’s empty bedroom. She can hear Wyatt complaining and Martin egging Max on when she passes her brother’s room and she laugh.

Her husband meets her at the bottom of the stairs with a coffee, and he gives her the perfect pep-talk when she worries about her gifts. She knows no one cares what she gets them, it’s all about Max and Nina and she’s not entirely sure how she’s going to get everything with her daughter’s name under the tree back to Korea with them, she dreaded when she eventually picked Max up from her father’s house.

The second Christmas would either be extravagant or negligible, and though she felt guilty Callie hoped for the latter. While the rest of the RFA had sent small token gifts with her for Max, most of them had suggested that was just one part, Jumin had made enough insinuations when she called that she knew Max would have a third Christmas when they finally got home.

Sitting across from her mother ready to hand out presents from under the tree she’s glad that Saeyoung had the forethought to put her coffee in a travel mug. The chaos starts with Max and Nina tearing into their gifts in turn. They’re four presents deep when the front door opens and Nina’s step father Gilles calls out a good morning from the hall.

He slips in past the crowd, handing out hugs and cheek kisses as he passes the Miller family and slides a few more presents under the tree.

“ Joyeux Noel,” he smiles widely taking a seat between Wyatt and Saeran.

“ The storm in Montreal was as bad as they were calling for I take it?” Martin asks.

Gilles shrugs. “Not so bad, just enough.”

“ Mom will be happy to hear you were late, you know how she loves when you fuck up,” Nina laughs taking a present from Callie and handing it to Max.

“ Nina,” he scolds but he’s laughing.

It’s fourty-five minutes later before Callie even has a moment to think about drinking her coffee. Nina is draped across her Uncles’ laps like she’s still a child and not 19 years old almost crying with joy over their gift and Max has finally opened something she wants to tear out of the package.

Callie’s mother has taken the opportunity to hand out presents to the adults in the room and the conversation has died down.

*

Saeyoung had never experienced a Christmas like this, he’d loved last year, the first time in his life he’d hadn’t avoided the holiday entirely. Just the three of them in the bunker, still oblivious to his future status as Step-Dad, there hadn’t been gifts just Callie singing Carols and cooking a huge dinner.

But this was crazy, the tree and it’s dragon’s hoard of gifts had taken over the parlor, Callie and her mother had been up until almost 4am finishing wrapping gifts and he was considering suggesting they take Jumin up on his offer of sending his plane for them just so they could get all the things labelled  _ Max _ home.

When the gifts for the grandkids had slowed down Mrs. Miller and Callie had started handing out gifts to the rest of the family and he watched nervously as everyone casually tore into them, calling out to the giver if they were in the room. Callie is sitting almost under the tree with a box, he knows is from Jumin, sitting on her lap watching everyone else.

He watches his brother open a package he knows is from Callie, she’s put together a book of sheet music for piano and guitar, songs that she plays, ones that they’ve played together, and ones he’s mentioned wanting to learn. It was simple, she’d found everything she could get her hands on for free or cheap and printed off and bound them herself before they’d left. He watches his brother smile and nod at her.

He watches her smile back at him with her crooked grin. She picks at the edges of Jumin’s gift and glances around the room. He reaches under his chair and grabs the little box he’d tucked away. He had been going to have her open it last, but his confidence is wavering, he knows what’s in the box in her lap, he’d been sent to buy part of it after they got here and now he’s not sure if he wants to go last.

He knows she’ll love what he got her, but will it beat out Jumin? It’s not a competition but this is only the second time he’s tried to do this and he wanted it to go well this time. He slides down onto the floor next to her and sets his box on top of Jumin’s.

“ Can you open mine first?”

She smiles at him. “I’m going to kill you both aren’t I?”

Everyone is staring at them, and he realizes what the little box he’s given her looks like. Wyatt starts a chorus of ohhs and awws and Callie starts laughing.

“ You Assholes already know we’re married, what the fuck?” She demands.

“ I did not know that,” Gilles offers.

Callie tears the paper off the box and throws it at Gilles. She opens it up and holds up the keychain with a key hanging off of it. Her cheeks flush and she whispers, “what the hell did you do?”

Saeyoung pulls his wife into a hug meant to keep her from swinging at him. “Well first I didn’t actually buy you a car, so I need to know you’re not going to hit me when I let go?”

He watches her mind work over the information and she nods slowly. “Wait, this isn’t the key to the ’67 Shelby at the bunker?”

He grins at her and nods. “Bingo Babe! You just seemed so upset when I was thinking about selling it.”

“ But you did sell it.”

There’s a murmur from her family and Nina whispers  _ holy shit _ .

“ I got the name of a guy from Jumin, I had it restored and I had them make sure it would be safe to take Max in, I had it painted that colour you like, here look,” he pulls his phone out and shows her a picture of it. “Sorry it’s kind of blurry Jumin took it last weekend when they brought it home. She’s waiting next to my baby in the garage.”

Callie doesn’t speak, she holds his arm tightly and smiles and stares at the picture. She’d almost cried when he said he was going to sell that car, it had been easy to decide to give it to her when she’d gotten her licence after getting out of the hospital. He knew she hated driving his baby.

“ If Jumin helped you out what’s in this box?” She holds up the other box, everyone having stopped to watch them.

“ Jesus Aunty Cal,” Nina snorts. “A bunker full of cars and all I got was a pair of skate warmers you knit.”

“ You said you loved them,” Gilles pointed out.

“ I did, before I knew she married a dude with bunker-full-of-sweet-ass-cars money!” But it’s jovial and Callie grabs another handful of discarded wrapping paper to throw at her niece.

Everyone goes back to opening their own growing piles of gifts, flashes going off in all directions as chaos resumes. Callie pulls at the paper on the box from Jumin, opening it slowly, like it could be a bomb. She opens the cardboard and holds up a leather Jacket.

“ Saeyoung he knows I have like 3 of these already, he bought me the last one,” she chuckles.

“ Check the pockets,” Saeran calls over the din of the room.

“ Ok so how many sets of keys are you assholes going to give me for Christmas, what is this?” Her face is bright red.

“ I had nothing to do with this, I didn’t know until last week, he sent me the keys and asked me to buy the jacket for you, he’s had it stored somewhere for weeks.”

“ Had what,” she starts, and he watches the lightbulb come on. “Mother fucker.”

Saeyoung smiles. “You know I’m recording this right? I’m going to send it to him. Is  _ mother fucker _ your final answer?”

Callie notices the phone in his hand and she leans down close enough that the only thing on the screen is her face. “Jumin Han, I am going to strangle you when I see you. I love it, and I hate you. You suck. Jesus. You’re the fucking worst.” But she’s laughing when she pulls back and she’s clipping the keys from Jumin to the keys from Saeyoung.

“ What just happened?” Wyatt asks, eyebrow quirked.

“ Jumin bought Mom a motorcycle,” Max chirps.

Callie’s head swivels so fast Saeyoung is worried it may come off. “Max, you knew?”

“ Me and Zen helped him,” she shrugs.

Callie looks at her husband and he shrugs. “I had no idea.”

Max jumps up and runs up the stairs; she comes back down with her phone and holds it out to her mother. It’s a photo of Max sitting on a bright teal motorcycle with Jumin standing behind her. “Because you told Zen that you missed motorcycles.”

“ I can’t even ride,” she whispers, her eyes wide and watering.

“ Yeah,” Saeran says from the sofa. “That’s what I told him, so Merry Christmas we’re going to take lessons when we get home.”

Callie almost launches herself at her brother in law.

The rest of the gifts are generally uneventful, everyone loves the things Callie has made for them, scarves, mittens, hats, customize notebooks and jewelry she’d made herself in the weeks leading up to their visit, a sweater for her mother and brother. And Max is in present overload, there are books on Judo from Jaehee, and a hoodie from Yoosung, a new 3DS from Jumin with all the pokemon games she’d been coveting, and a cast recording from Zen’s last show that would have seemed self centered if not for the fact that Max had gone to see it at least 3 times.

No one is surprised when Toby and Celia arrive together and twenty minutes late for supper. And after they’ve left with Nina and Max in tow no one misses the way Max drags her feet. Callie busies herself in the kitchen cleaning up from the meal and both he and Saeran join her, helping her wash and dry the dishes.

Saeyoung finds himself smirking again as Callie’s mother peeks in on the three of them and he thinks that maybe he’s finally gotten her approval. When Callie disappears up the stairs early in the evening he’s not far behind with a glass of wine.

She’s laying on her bed with her laptop in front of her. Their suitcases are open and it looks like she’s started packing before she got distracted.

“ Hey,” he slips the glass of wine into her hand and she smiles up at him.

“ Should I call Jumin?” She says quietly.

“ He’s probably awake,” he lays down with his head resting on the small of her back.

“ I mean about everything.”

“ What’s everything?” Saeyoung laughs.

“ I’m not,” she sighs, “I’m not worried about court. I mean I know I’ve got this but I just want to go home, and Max just wants to go home, what if the lawyer he recommended can really speed this up? Am I just making everyone suffer because of my pride?”

“ No one is suffering,” he coos at her. “I was going to have to meet your family anyway, and my brother is fucking smiling for once. Even if nothing had changed with T, Max would still have had to spend Christmas with him whether she liked it or not.”

“ You’re not telling me what to do,” she groans. “You’re supposed to tell me what to do.”

He rolls over and crawls up the bed beside her, resting his temple against hers. “Cal, I can’t tell you what to do, if you want to take Jumin up on his offer I support that, you want me to help you cover a better lawyer I’m there, whatever you want.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long. I mentioned in August I was going on hiatus. If you missed it I generally update in my profile here, on twitter @botanyvampire or my tumbler Botany-Enthused-Vampire.tumblr.com
> 
> Updates for this and Lost Boys are going to move to every two weeks while I try to build up my buffers again and finish up the other shorter fics I have in the works.


	47. Custody 1

“ Saeyoung sent me a video,” Jumin’s face is blurry, she’s had to wait for him to call back for more than a day and they’re supposed to be getting in the car when he finally does call on skype.

“ Jesus could you just sit down for a minute I’m going to get motion sick trying to talk to you.” She groans.

“ You haven’t said thank you yet.” He smirks sitting at his kitchen island.

“ Oh my god,” she’s sitting at her mother’s kitchen table, where the light is better and she simply rests her forehead on it.

“ Where is Saeyoung?” he chuckles at her. “Are you still at your parents?”

“ He’s packing the car, we’re leaving for the city today, I have a meeting at the studio, then a meeting with my lawyer and then court at the end of the week. Which is why I called.”

Callie’s Mother comes into the room, she bends down and inspects the screen as she passes.

“ Mom,” Callie scolds.

“ Hello Mr. Han,” her Mother smiles and keeps moving through the room, out to the front to help the boys pack the car.

“ Your Mother looks well,” he smiles.

“ My Mother wishes I’d married you and not Saeyoung,” she groans. “But I think she’s over it now.”

“ You sounded worried when you called, was there something I could help with?” Jumin narrows his eyes. They both know what she’s going to ask, and that he will do his best to help.

“ You know what I want,” she frowns.

“ Could you please say it?”

“ Oh my god, Jumin.” She rolls her eyes. “It’s really short notice but the lawyer you mentioned, can you get me a meeting with them? Do they think they can end this at Mediation Friday? I just want to go home when Max’s visit with her Dad is over, I want us all to be home, I don’t want to be in and out of court, I don’t want to go to court at all.”

“ Hmmm,” Jumin says.

“ I don’t know what dollar bill magic you can swing, and honestly I am not convinced that there is even anything more than my lawyer is doing.”

“ I will,” he thinks, “contact the lawyer I’ve suggested with your lawyer’s information and have them evaluate the situation. If they feel they can do more I will hire them, does that sound fair?”

“ I think I’m just freaking out over nothing, I just want to be able to come home. I don’t want to have to hang around on technicalities, I just want to sign some bullshit, and then I want you to send your plane for us when Max’s visit is over because I have no idea how I’m getting any of these boxes of toys and clothing home and not interact with another stranger ever again.”

“ I’m sure I can have something arranged,” Jumin smiles.

Callie breathes a sigh of relief. “I hate asking you for any of this.”

“ I enjoy helping when you let me, you shouldn’t worry about asking.”

“ Oh gross,” Saeran says behind her, “he’s being humble.”

Callie snorts, thankful her brother in law is so good at reading her and breaking the tension. Saeyoung is right behind him with a wink for the camera right before he buries his face in her neck. “Feel how cold my nose is right now,” he mumbles into her shoulder.

“ I suppose it is time for me to get back to work,” Jumin comments, he doesn’t say goodbye but there’s a subtle smile on his face when he closes skype and Callie laughs as she pushes Saeyoung away from her.

“ We need to do something nice for him.”

“ He’s taking care of it then?” Saeyoung asks.

“ He’s going to try,” she shrugs, as much as asking for Jumin’s help had hurt her pride she felt a weight lifted from her.

The meeting with the studio goes well, she spends a day working in office instead of from her hotel room and enjoys meeting with her old cast. There are hugs and coos and the girls all squeal over the rings she now wears and her heart leaps a little at the warm reception her co-workers give Saeyoung. Not a single joke about their age difference, and so many comments on how happy she looks in photos, how happy Max looks.

There’s talk of them joining the show for an episode, the possibility of skyping into their home game and Callie had forgotten how relaxed an office could be.  She takes photos for Max, she calls Yoosung and listens to him squeal and babble, translates for the cast when he slips out of english in his excitement.  More than once and arm rests across her shoulders as someone whispers in her ear that she’s  _ beaming _ or that she’s  _ glowing _ .

The entire day lifts her spirits, and makes her almost wish they could move here.

She was right about the lawyer though. When she meets with her own lawyer, Jumin’s is there and they all agree that there is little more to be done than what her lawyer is already doing. It’s a fairly simple situation, she’s assured, and the only trouble would be mild stalling from her ex-husbands council. Jumin’s lawyer offers to appear, pro-bono simply for intimidation.

“Are you ok,” Saeran asks over a Pizza box on the bed between them.

Callie shrugs, “It is what it is.”

Saeyoung had slipped out to the store.  Cursing that there were no Honey Buddah Chips to be found in any of the corner shops near their hotel. He’s been on a mission all afternoon and finally found an Asian grocer almost 3 hours away that claimed to carry them occasionally.  Saeran and Callie had begged off, opting to order Pizza and lay in Saeran’s room with bad TV.

“Yeah but you know, _ are you ok _ ?” He reaches past the box and gently shoves her.

“Mostly, it’s just frustrating,” she sighs. 

“Which part, going to court or being married to a toddler?”

Callie laughs and she can see the small smile on Saeran’s face. “He’s dealing with this in his own way,” she sighs. 

“By being an idiot?” Saeran snorts.

Callie picks the box up off the bed and moves it to the desk.  Saeran has moved to lay on his stomach his head cradled on his arms.  She remembers so many nights that first year where he wouldn’t let Saeyoung in his room but afforded her more trust than anyone else.  It’s habit that has her kneel on the double bed and lay with her head on his shoulder to rub his back.

“Are you OK?” she asks quietly.  “I know this trip is a big deal for you, and my family is overwhelming at the best of times.”

He shrugs. “M’Ok,” he mumbles relaxing. “It that what families are supposed to be like?”

“Come on,” she says, “We’re not, you shouldn’t think about them like that.  You know how Cici is and you saw my shitty Aunt and Mom was-”

“No one really yelled at you,” he points out.

“Mom just, she yells quiet.”

“You know what I mean Callie,” he snaps into his arm.

She sighs, “I  _ know _ but do you really want to talk about that.”

“Brought it up myself.”

She tries not to sigh again, “Why?”

“Curious,” he shrugs and she sits up so he can roll over. “Last year was weird.  You were so nice but you were stuck with us, and we didn’t know about Max, and everything was hard and nothing you did made sense.”

Callie laughs.

“Makes more sense now.  We never had that.  I” he pauses and fixes her with an embarrassed look, “I couldn’t even feel out of place, everyone kept introducing themselves l-like I belonged.”

“You did belong, you’re my brother in law Saeran.”  He lets her hug him.

“Never did that before,” he laughs weakly.

“You gotta stop fucking with T ok?” She says softly into his hair.

“W-what?”

She chuckles. “I know it’s not your brother.  Just, it’s not worth it ok?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He says slipping out of her grip.

“I know you don’t but cut it out ok?”


	48. Custody 2

“ You know this one,” Rory smiles at her from under his frayed cowboy hat and her uncle shrugs his shoulders.

Callie takes off the little bar apron and sets it under the counter with her money changer and follows her father’s friend to the stage of her uncle’s tavern. Red faced Roger holds out a beat up acoustic guitar with a smile and she takes it, almost reverently noting that beneath stickers and scratches she can still see the childish scrawl of her own signature.

Sharon claps her on the shoulder, her big hair still as bright as it had been in the early 90s and in the back of the stage she can see Saeyoung smiling at her over a pile of ancient sound boards while Sharon slides a microphone stand in front of her.

Rory picks up a few bars of the song and Callie leans into the mic, the first few bars come out shaky and she picks up the harmony on her own guitar before she hears Goober’s drums come through. Funny how the familiar faces made her nervous, not the rooms full of strangers she’s performed for during C&R functions but this little tavern of mostly old people who’d been coming up to her all evening saying things like “Don’t you remember me?” And “You were this high last time I saw you, Kiddo.”

She’s back on her game by the time the chorus comes around. she can see Saeran sitting at a table close to the stage with his phone out and wonders if he’s recording her for the sake of it or because he was talking to Jumin when she drug herself up on the stage. She smiles at his phone and sings.

Saeran rolls his eyes at her and shakes his head and she drags her eyes away from the comforting thought of Jumin watching her and scans the crowd again. Freezing slightly when she sees  _ him _ raise a glass towards her; T, standing at the end of the bar, mediation was tomorrow afternoon.

The song ends and Roger slips the acoustic off her shoulders as the rest of the band goes right into the next more upbeat song, Sharon bumping shoulders with her to get her attention. Callie knows this one too and a little cheer goes up in the band when she picks it up with them.

Callie tries to shake it off, the feel of his eyes on her, watching her. She wonders who has Max, Cici probably but she never knows. There were people with him, she notes as he slips into a seat at a table not far from Saeran.

Sharon bumps into her a few more times and she turns bouncing on her toes to the beat and taking the mic in her hand as they belt out the end of the song.

“ Come on guys,” Rory coos into his own Mic, “ Amy’s a big deal in Japan—”

“ It’s Korea,” she corrects blushing, “and I’m really,  _ really _ not.”

“ One more song then she can pour you assholes drinks!” Roger shouts over her shoulders into the mic.

She walks to the back of the stage and grabs one of the well worn electric guitars sitting as back up by the sound boards and blows her husband a kiss in his little tech cave. Saeyoung throws up some horns and pretends to headbang.

“ Alright,” Callie says into the mic, T being here caught her off guard but she could do one more song, “how about something I taught these fuckers?”

It’s not long before drums and base have joined her and the rest of the band is going along with her, she’s forgotten about T, forgotten about everything for a minute as the music falls away and she sings;  _ Don’t count on me, to let you know and, don’t count on me, I’ll do it again, Don’t count on me, that’s the point your missing, don’t count on my, cause I’m not listening _ .

The rest of the band comes in again and she kicks off her pumps to better jump around the stage and she throws her head back cackling when Roger shouts  _ The doctor said my Mom should have had an abortion _ into her mic.

She can hear Sharon pick up with a Janis Joplin song as she puts her borrowed Gibson back in it’s place. Saeyoung blows her a kiss and she gathers her shoes up, sitting on the edge of the stage to put them back on. She laughs at the thumbs up from Sharon and Rory. Saeran is engrossed in his phone when she walks past his table and ruffles his hair.

Her adrenalin is pumping from performing and she doesn’t notice the tall man follow her to the bar.

“ Is that out of your system?” Her uncle asks her when she crouches down to grab her apron and money changer.

“ I’m working for tips, Uncle Marco, don’t be shitty.”

He chuckles and pats her on the head. “I’ve got some work in the office, give me a shout if it gets out of control before backup gets here.”

She swats at his leg and stands up fielding immediate orders for beers and well shots.

“ You know what I want,” a familiar voice calls out.

Callie doesn’t look up, she’d been fielding vague orders from people she hadn’t served or seen in 4 years or longer. “Sorry pal, I left my crystal ball at home, you’ll have to jog my memory.” When she finally glances up from the shots she’s pouring it’s not strange eyes she meets but Toby’s.

“ Ten years with me and you’ve forgotten already,” he’s smiling at her and she doesn’t know how to respond.

She hands off the shots and makes change, pocketing the tip she’s left.

“ Made a point of it actually,” she grunts.

“ Things’re that bad huh? Picking up shifts at Marco’s, thing’s can’t be great.”

“ You can get your lawyer to grill me tomorrow T, I’m just doing my uncle a favor.”

“ Sure you are, I thought you weren’t going to do  _ this _ ever again?” He’s laughing, as far as he’s concerned this is a playful conversation.

“ I was going to be here all night anyway, why not make tips,” she shrugs. She wants to send him off but she also really likes pocketing tips. Chasing him off risks looking unfriendly and she wonders how many people know he’s her ex-husband, the bouncer giving her meaningful eyebrows certainly knows something is up.

“ What no Max so you think you gotta hit the bar?” He chuckles, and she can tell by the cadence of his speech he’s already had quite a few drinks.

“ You want a beer T? On me.” She reaches into the cooler a vague memory of a green label and almost throws the bottle at him.

“ Hmmm, you do remember,” he coos at her.

“ I guess so,” she moves down the bar, handing out more beers and coolers, collecting coins, changing bills, and T follows her the whole way.

“ What are we doing?” He says, words slurring a little in the middle as his pre-gaming catches up to him.

“ I lied T, the cost of that beer is going back to your buddies and leaving me alone.”

The corners of his mouth turn up and he chuckles. “Aw,” he draws it out, “I miss you, you know, Max misses you.”

She can feel her teeth grind together and she wonders if Marco would care if she did a shot right now. “Max is fine, she probably misses Luciel more than me.”

“ Which one is that?” He grunts his body language shifting.

“ The one I married T.”

The half full bottle of beer thunks onto the bar and foams up over the mouth of the bottle, it’s worth the mess to see the slack jawed look of surprise on his face.

“ With the red hair, the one Max,” she stops herself she wants to say the one Max calls Dad but she doesn’t want to cause her daughter trouble.

“ The one Max what,” T manages to spit out.

“ The one she talks about all the time,” Callie mumbles, looking down at the bar. She doesn’t notice the other bartender coming in, let alone walking up behind her.

“ I think you should go back to your friends, bud,” a gruff voice behind her says firmly.

She can see Saeran making his way slowly towards her too, and the bouncer from earlier. No one at the table of people T had come with moves. She knows his army buddies are used to his shit, if he got dragged out of this bar they’d finish their drinks before they followed him out.

Saeran slides into a stool at the bar next to T and glances up at him before looking to her. “Are you good Cal?”

She slides him a beer and smiles. “Peachy.”

He smirks, and T glances around, the bouncer still slowly moving towards them.

“ Yung said I could take the car back to the Hotel, you want to come with or are you waiting for him?” Saeran inclines his head towards the door.

Her smile widens and she makes eye contact with her ex husband, he scowls before she looks back. “I mean ‘til death do you part probably includes getting hit on by drunks for a few hours, I’ll wait for your brother and get a cab.”

T growls and shakes his head. He knocks the flat beer over with his elbow when he turns and practically stomps back to his friends. The bouncer shrugs and goes back to his perch on the far side of the room.

Saeran stays at the bar, looking at the beer he can’t drink and smirking slightly. “Looks like tomorrow is going to be a fun day for you,” he snorts.

“ You’re an asshole,” she groans pressing her forehead to the bar and taking the beer back.

“ You should drink that, I won’t tell Marco,” her back-up chuckles.

“ Heh,” she laughs. “Not like I’m on the payroll.”

“ Sometimes the Monkeys can’t take no for an answer, you earned it from what I saw.”

She laughs and waves to her brother in law. “Sometimes the drunk Monkeys are your ex-husband, who forced you to take a 15 hour flight and see him in court tomorrow morning.”

The beer is snatched from her hand and chucked in the prep sink. “Ok I lied, this is what you earned.”

She watches his broad back reach up and grab a 20 year scotch off the top shelf, he pours out two fingers and hands her the glass. “Neat,” she nods laughing a little.

She drinks the scotch in two gulps and sets the glass aside, handing out more beers and shots, to patrons. It’s not a packed night, busy enough that they get very little reprieve, one person behind the bar was probably all they needed and she’s a little grateful that her uncle thought to offer her the night of work, even though she feels a little guilty about cutting into the other bartender’s tips.

Especially given her meeting with the studio and knowing she was back on the roster in another month when tournament season picked up again.

“ I’m kind of impressed,” he says slipping past her.

“ I have that effect on people,” she snorts mixing a highball, “but only kind of, never really impressed.”

He chuckles. “Didn’t expect you to shoot back 20 year scotch that’s all.”

“ My buddy, my pal, my dude, my guy,” she laughs, pouring a round of shots, “In Korea I spend a lot of time with really rich dudes trying to impress each other,” his eyebrows raise and she quickly follows up, “I’m an event coordinator for a big company there, not like an escort, Jesus Christ. The CEO introduced me to my husband we usually go to events together.”

“ Wait,” he draws out the word, squinting at her as he pours an elaborate cocktail without looking.

“ Don’t,” she snorts, digging a few rum coolers out of the fridge, “you know the answer is yes, and the other answer is  _ a lot of wigs _ .”

He laughs. “Marco said his famous niece, I thought he was being facetious.”

“ He definitely was, only I would have used a smaller more vulgar word to describe it.”

“ Don’t sell yourself short.”

Callie laughs. “You what? Saw me in the gossip section with Jumin Han? Or on the news being shoved into an ambulance?”

He shrugs.

“ I don’t mean to be an asshole,” she sighs between pouring drinks and small talk with customers. “I’m kind of sour that people recognize me for fake scandals with my  _ friends _ , rather than my actual shows, or my charity work.”

“ Sorry I didn’t know.”

She laughs. “Yeah that’s the problem. Whatever, I guess being famous on the internet is still kind of limiting”

“ Your show is fun though,” he says bumping shoulders with her. “Your rating will probably go up when you come back from your hiatus.”

She shrugs. “Thanks.”

They get a burst as the band winds down and starts to pack up. Marco emerges from the back just in time for last call and she smiles wide when Saeyoung slides over the bar to gather her up into a hug.

“ This is my husband,” she says through laughter when the man she’s been tending bar with all night makes a move to remove him. “I guess I’m going,” she manages between her laughter as he lifts her by the waist and starts to back away.

Marco pulls her money changer and apron away from her as she waves good bye.

“ Don’t you want your tips?” he calls after them.

“ Give them to back up,” she waves as she’s dragged out the door.

*

There’s a smell, something like smoke, and she can’t breathe. Her voice is caught in her chest and she squeezes her already shut eyes tighter. A bang, voices,  _ are they shouting _ , she can’t place the weight across her body and she can’t move.

She tries to speak, tries to shout and nothing comes out, and she  _ knows _ what she’s going to see when she opens her eyes, braces herself for the sight. Saeran with the gun, eyes wide like he can’t believe what he’s just done, and V crumpled at her feet with Saeyoung, pale and lost between them.

She forces her eyes open but it’s not Saeran with the gun it’s Toby, not V crumpled at her feet but Jumin, she’s disoriented, it’s not Magenta, not Rika screaming but a distant Siren and she can’t move, can’t scream can’t—

“ Callie, it’s a dream.” Saeyoung’s voice. “Cal, wake up you’re ok.”

The ceiling of their hotel room comes into focus, and she blinks, her eyes are dry and she wonders how long they’d been open. Saeyoung’s head is resting on her stomach where he’d fallen asleep when they gotten home from the tavern.

“ Callie?” He says quietly when she pushes herself up to sitting.

“ Yeah I’m ok,” she smiles weakly at him.

“ Sleep paralysis huh?”

“ I guess T kinda freaked me out tonight,” she shrugs. It had been a while since it had happened. Once or twice when she’d first moved into the bunker but it had happened nightly for months when T had first left her.

“ You’re ok now though?” He yawns rolling out of her lap and stretching across the bed.

“ My hearts still pounding but I’ll be ok, I’m going to go see Saeran, go back to sleep.”

“ Cal,” he says softly catching her hand.

“ Don’t look at me like that I just want to see if he’s ok, we didn’t say good night to him, he left before us.”

“ He’s fine, Babe, you need to go back to sleep.”

“ I’m fine,” she pulls her hand away, her husband shrugs and runs his fingers through his messy red bedhead.

She pulls Saeyoung’s hoody around her and slips a pair of PJ pants on under her night shirt before she shuffles bare foot out of their room and down the hall to her brother in laws room.

“ You look like shit,” Saeran frowns when he opens the door and she snorts.

“ You’re awake already then?”

“ That slamming door,” he shrugs.

“ Heh,” she hugs herself tightly and steps into his room, flopping down on his bed.

“ You had that dream again?” He asks.

“ Yeah,” she sighs, “and no.”

He raises his eye brows and sits down next to her.

“ It was the same,” she says softly rolling onto her stomach, “except it was T with the gun, and Jumin was the one,” her voice trails off, “I didn’t see your brother, or you.”

Saeran’s hand rests on her back. “Did you hear the siren?”

She snorts. “Yeah that too.”

“ I was trying to call Yoosung,” he shrugs.

Callie laughs. “Jesus we’re a mess.”

Saeran flops down on his back beside her, one arm awkwardly tossed over her back the other over his head. A few moments of quiet pass before he asks, “Do you come to see me afterwards because you scared or because you feel guilty?”

Callie sighs. “Neither, sometimes I’m worried because it was a sound or a smell that set me off, so I want to make sure you’re ok, but mostly it’s because your brother just seems so  _ unphased _ .”

Saeran chuckles. “Yeah I guess. I call Yoosung because it reminds me she’s not around, so I thought I’d ask.”

It’s quiet again and she almost drifts off to sleep when he asks, “Why do you think Saeyoung seems so ok with it?”

“ Hmm?”

“ Why does he get to be so detached?’ Saeran says bitterly.

“ Agency training probably,” she shrugs. “He’s pretty good at compartmentalizing, Military trains soldiers to do it, the Agency probably trained him to.”

Saeran rolls over curling in on himself.

“ It bugs him, but he doesn’t know how to talk about it,” she shrugs. “I guess that’s another reason I come see you, don’t want to see him have to struggle with it.”

“ It’s funny,” Saeran says cooly, “he spends a lot of time making us deal with our shit but he can’t even talk about it.”

Callie sits up an hugs her knees to her chest. “He just deals differently.” She combs her fingers through Saeran’s hair.

“ Be nice if he could talk about it.”

“ Not everyone can,” she shrugs. “But I lived with the side effects of ignoring it and I don’t think that’s what he’s doing.”

“ He’s an idiot how can you be sure?”

“ He’s my idiot,” she laughs, “but I wouldn’t still be here if I wasn’t sure.”


	49. Custody 3

Saeyoung’s been sullen since Callie woke up in his brother’s room. He doesn’t want to ask, he knows he’s being stupid but he can’t stop that nagging voice in his head that tells him he’s not good enough. She seems fine now, having slipped back into the room freshly showered wearing only his hoodie.

He’d pretended to be asleep and she’d pressed kisses along his shoulders before she draped his hoodie over him and told him to get up. He watched her get dressed, the way she threads her fingers cautiously through the extensions in her undercut.

He didn’t think it would take adjusting to, her hair being dark and full, not with her assortment of wigs but there was something off about the dark haired woman in front of him, he worries he could lose her in a crowd like this.

The meeting with the mediator is early and Callie insists on being there earlier, they arrive to the courthouse, mostly empty and Callie sets up on a bench outside the room they hope to end this whole thing in. Her lawyer follows shortly after, a small man in a nice but wrinkled suit with too much product in his hair. Jumin’s lawyer follows shortly after, tall and sleek, her black hair pulled into a tight chignon, pearls poke out of the collar of her exceptionally pressed pants suit.

Callie squeezes his hand tightly when the two of them start talking, and his heart leaps. The lawyers motion her over and she stands, not letting go of his hand, he starts to follow her but the woman holds out a hand to stop him. He slumps back to the bench and sighs.

Saeran frowns at him. “What is  _ your _ problem?”

“ Besides the obvious?”

His brother smirks. “Are you jealous?

He blushes. “No,” he grumbles into his palms.

Saeran chuckles and shoves him.

“ What’s so bad that she can’t tell me?” he grumbles into his hand.

“ It’s because you’re stupid,” Saeran says shoving him again.

“ I know,” he groans.

There’s a few beats of quiet, the hiss of whispers across from them, and a door somewhere opens.

“ Sensory triggers,” Saeran mumbles.

“ What?”

“ That’s why she comes to me.”

“ What?” Saeyoung repeats.

“ Like sounds and shit that set her off, I have them too, she comes to me because she’s worried whatever set her off set me off.”

He groans again, Callie is always taking care of them, she doesn’t even let her trauma be about her. “Why doesn’t she just tell me that.”

“ It’s not always about you,” Saeran says with a bit of bite.

“ I didn’t mean that,” he sighs.

“ It’s just,” Saeran pauses for a minute, “it’s not for me to tell you,” he mumbles. “We just talk until she feels better.”

“ Until  _ she _ feels better,” he repeats.

“ Yeah I call Yoosung , she talks to me, she talks to you about other stuff. It’s not a big deal, don’t be a fucking idiot about it ok?”

A stupid smile spreads across his face, she did talk to him about everything else, just not these specific dreams, it drops quickly when he realizes. “It’s about what happened with—” he stops himself.

“ Yeah.”

“ Oh.”

“ That’s why she doesn’t talk to you about it.”

“ Are you ok with that?” He asks his brother, watching his face carefully.

Saeran nods and shrugs. “It’s fine.”

Callie pushes in between them and pulls their hands into her lap. Cici and T are standing in the far corner of the room near the door, Max is between them and they both hold her hand tightly.

“ Are you freaking out because I’m freaking out?” Callie laughs nervously. She waves their clasped hands at Max and then giggles nervously, dropping them when she realizes. Max smiles widely at them and takes a step forward but she’s held firm by her father and Aunt. Another woman comes in the door and puts her hands on Max’s shoulder. Max and Cici both make a face.

“ Who’s that?” Saeran whispers.

“ Judging by Celia’s barely contained disgust I’m going to guess it’s T’s girlfriend,” Callie chuckles.

The four of them sit in front of Callie and the Chois, Max turning in her seat to wave and chatter at them. Granny and Grampy have gotten a new puppy, she tells them, and did they know that Nina might visit them soon. Celia hushes her.

A disheveled portly man with an ancient brief case comes into the room as the door opens and the Mediator’s friendly face calls them back. Callie pitches herself off the seat. Saeyoung hangs back, he’s not sure if he’s allowed in there, and he watches as they turn the girlfriend away at the door. He leans back against the wall.

“ Shouldn’t you be in there too Dad?” Max asks, Cici’s ears practically twitch when she says it.

He smiles and boops her nose. “Don’t think so Maximillion, think it’s just your Mom and your Daddy.”

Max makes a face.

“ I bet you’re bored,” he whispers and she rolls her eyes. “Here,” he hands her his phone, “it’s  _ really _ early at home why don’t you call everyone but Jaehee, wake them up and pretend you’re me.”

Max smiles wide snatching his phone out of his hand. He knows of everyone only Jumin and Jaehee are likely to even be asleep right now, it’s barely tomorrow at home, but the idea gives the child a mischievous gleam to her eyes that he loves to encourage.

“ That’s not a nice thing to do,” The girlfriend says softly, frowning between them.

Max is already opening the RFA app, cackling with glee.

“ It’s fine,” he says.

“ _ Yoosungie _ ,” Max sings out with false gravel in her voice.

“ Don’t they work?” The girlfriend frowns at him, “Maxine you shouldn’t wake your mother’s friends up.”

“ It’s Saturday there,” Saeyoung says. “It’s fine.”

Celia has put headphones in and Max is making alarm sounds and chattering in Korean.

“ Still it doesn’t seem—”

“ It’s fine,” he says firmly.

“ Maxine please,” the woman says, “please speak in English, no one understands you.”

Max ignores the woman beside her, she chatters excitedly to Yoosung on the phone and he doubts she’s woken him. The woman frowns again and he stops her before she can speak. “Her name is Max, and she’s not speaking to you,” he says firmly.

“ Well she should speak so someone understands her,” she huffs.

“ You mean so you understand her?” Callie is standing beside them frowning down at the woman.

She shakes her head and looks to Celia but Celia ignores her.

“ You can come in,” Callie says to him in Korean. “I thought you were behind me, T is still arguing with his lawyer about  _ her _ so I came out to get you.”

“ Really?” he answers in korean, smiling a little.

“ You’re my husband and Max’s Step-Dad, I kind of need you in there,” she laughss.

He smiles and stands.

She ruffles Max’s hair. “Do not call Jaehee.” She says firmly, in Korean.

Saeran shuffles in front of Max and pulls her chair closer to him as they push the door to the mediation room open.


	50. custody 4

“ Amelia Calliope Francis Miller-Choi,” she frowns as she recites her name, it’s a little hard to not get tongue tied at the end, “there’s a hyphen,” she adds timidly and Saeyoung squeezes her hand.

She can’t help but push the hair away from the side of her face, she’s been shaving the side of her head for more than a year and now that there was suddenly hair there, not to mention with her current anxiety levels, she was left thinking there was something on her face.

Jumin’s lawyer had suggested she alter her appearance slightly, just in case they saw someone who might see her hair as a sign of her ability to parent. So Callie had gone to the first salon willing to take her in right away and said a silent prayer of thanks that she hadn’t trimmed her undercut, despite the pain of the extension process. Then she’d said ‘goodbye’ to her perfect white hair and let the stylist bring her back to her natural warm brown. She’d paid with her C&R card and sent a message off to Jumin to take care of it for her.

Saeyoung had teased her that morning, telling her she looked like Jumin’s new secretary, but she hadn’t gotten a single sideways look.

She can tell early on that this is going to go her way but that doesn’t help the rocks in her belly whenever her ex-husband makes an unhappy noise, or raises his voice. She finds herself squeezing Saeyoung’s hand probably too tight every time Toby’s eyes fall on her and she wishes that Jumin, and Saeran could be in the room too.

Honestly, she wished the entire RFA could be in the room and she could just answer from the middle of a protective circle of her friends.

“ In your own words Mrs. Choi,” the mediator asks, and Callie starts a little, “what would your ideal outcome be.”

“ Me dead,” she hears Toby snort under his breath.

Callie takes a deep breath. “My goal is to address Mr. Krieger’s issues regarding visitation and contact with our daughter, for our daughter’s schooling and extra-curricular activities to continue without interference, and to address the ways in which Mr. Krieger speaks to and around our daughter about myself, my husband and the other adults in her life.”

“ Could you explain your last point?”

“ Mr. Krieger has been documented speaking to our daughter about my interpersonal relationships with my boss as C&R along with a friend of mine from the charity association I’m involved with.”

“ It’s not like she can’t read any of that on the internet,” Toby shouts at her.

“ Hiring paparazzi in a detective suit really helped that huh?” Saeyoung says back, and Callie slaps his leg as they’re hushed.

“ I work with high profile people, there are rumors in newspapers,” she tries to shrug and appear nonchalant as T’s lawyer slides a number of news paper articles to the mediator. “Our daughter is aware of the rumors, the issue is not with the rumors, Max is not bothered by them. She  _ is _ bothered by her father’s belief in them. That is why she has not been answering his calls.”

Hands go up, Toby argues, and the lawyers go back to pushing papers at the mediator. Toby is asked to wait outside and she lets out a shaky breath.

“ You look relieved Mrs. Choi,” the mediator says.

Callie shrugs.

“ Do you have concerns about your daughter’s safety?”

“ What? No.” Callie says sharply. “Whatever  _ issues _ I had with my ex-husband, I don’t think he’d ever harm our daughter.”

“ Mr. Krieger doesn’t seem to think the same, he has concerns about your brother-in-law.”

Saeyoung sits up and Callie presses her nails into his thighs. Her Lawyer slides another folder to the mediator. “Saeran is not a threat to anyone, especially not his niece.”

“ You have to admit his past is questionable and you did not seem to consider that before moving your daughter in with the Chois.”

“ That’s a bold assumption,” she says firmly. “I know my decision to move appeared sudden to Mr. Krieger but given the circumstances,” she trails off. “I was involved in Saeran’s recovery, I lived with the twins during my travel ban, and if you look at the letter from Saeran’s doctor you can see that I did consult with him before I moved my daughter in with us.”

“ Did you not consider living alone?”

“ We discussed it extensively,” Saeyoung cuts in.

“ Saeyoung lived in a good school district, near my primary job. She’s close to her extra-curriculars and both Saeyoung and Saeran work from home, leaving someone always available should I be working and Max need to come home early, or my work keep me late.”

“ And these photo’s Mr. Krieger has presented us with?”

Callie let’s out a groan that is almost a growl. She leans hard on her elbows and Saeyoung runs his hand along her back. “Can we see them?” He asks while she composes herself.

The folder is pushed towards them and they flick through the mostly innocuous images.

“ There are a number of images of you and a man who isn’t your husband getting into cars, and going into what I’m told is his home, they appear to be taken quite late at night.”

“ It’s nice to see he wasted money on this but he won’t pay for half of Max’s Judo,” Saeyoung mumbles and Callie snorts.

“ The one that concerns us appears to be you standing quite close to the man, alone it would not be so incriminating but given the other images and the statement from Mr. Krieger I feel the placement of his arm and your own body language is slightly incriminating.”

Callie groans again, the image was taken just before the party, the last meeting the RFA had had about it she turns the image around and points to the hand at the edge of image. “The PI Mr. Krieger hired is very adept at framing her photos,” she says carefully. “That’s my husband’s hand. The man in all these images is the Director of C&R Jumin Han, he’s also the head of the Charity organization both Saeyoung and I are members of. I work very closely with Mr. Han planning events and dinners for C&R and their investors. I often attend these with Mr. Han as he is a good friend of my husband and now myself.

“ I do stay at Jumin’s penthouse  _ in the guest suit _ a few times a month, though that may increase now that we’ve bought a house farther from the city, simply because sometimes dinners run late, or we have an early event. Mr. Krieger focuses on Jumin because Max loves him, Jumin spoils her a little. I’m sure early on he likely heard a lot of  _ Mr.Jumin bought me stuff _ .”

The mediator looks at the rest of the papers in front of her and nods to Callie’s lawyers. The four of them leave the room and watch as Toby and his Lawyer are called back in. His girlfriend is still sitting in front of Saeran but Max and Cici are nowhere to be seen.

“ Your sister took Max to get something to eat,” Saeran whispers when she sits beside him. “Sounds like it’s going ok.”

Callie shrugs. “I don’t know, it felt like it until they separated us.”

“ I can’t believe he tried to use us as an excuse.”

“ I can’t believe we’re here at all,” she groans. “We’re married the amount he pays is even lower now, what’s he going to do if Max lives with him?”

The woman in front of them turns around. “Well I work from home you know,” she smiles and she seems to genuinely be trying to be kind.

“ Don’t take this the wrong way,” Callie says carefully, “but I don’t even know your name and T has been back from Korea for less than a year, even if I assume you were dating before he was put on the Korean exercise he never mentioned you, and Max never mentioned you.”

“ Oh I know,” she says and her eyes shift to the door, her smile falters, “we haven’t been together very long but—”

“ I’m sure you’re not a terrible person,” Callie interrupts, “let me repeat myself; I  _ don’t _ know you. All I’ve seen is you repeatedly ask my daughter to stop speaking the language that all of her friends speak because  _ you _ don’t understand.”

“ Well it’s rude to exclude people.”

Callie watches both her lawyers go back into the room.

“ She was speaking to her Korean Uncle Yoosung.” Callie snorts.

“ Well how do you expect me to monitor her phone calls if I don’t understand what she’s saying?”

Callie frowns. “We’ll ignore the fact that you don’t respect my daughter’s privacy; she was born in Korea, both she and I have lived there more than here, and her father understands the language, perhaps, if you’re considering being my daughter’s step-mother you may want to learn the language she uses most in her day to day life.”

The woman turns around sharply mumbling to herself and Callie sees Max and Cici enter into the waiting area as they’re called back into the room.

The Lawyer Jumin hired is standing arms crossed in the far corner of the room, Callie’s lawyer looks smug. T is red-faced and his lawyer is shaking his head.

“ Congratu-fucking-lations,” T growls. “Fucking whatever, you win, you want me to sign her away, whatever I’m done.”

Callie sits in the chair next to her lawyer and Saeyoung stands behind her, he nervously squeezes her shoulders.

“ That’s not what I wanted?” She says it like a question.

“ Mr. Krieger hired a guardian ad lietum,” her lawyer explains softly to her, “unfortunately your daughter seemed very uncomfortable at his home and by the end of the investigation they recommended that she spend  _ less _ time with Mr. Krieger.”

“ That’s not what I wanted,” she says again, this time directly to her ex-husband.

“ Whatever,” he spits.

*

He watches his brother and his sister in-law disappear behind the door as Max slides onto the bench next to him. Max pushes a cup into his hand and smiles up at him. “W-what’s this?”

“ She said she had to buy it for you,” Cici says from her seat in front of them.

“ It’s a mint chocolate-chip frappichino,” Max sing-songs and slurps from her own almost empty cup.

“ Seems like this is taking a long time,” Cici says softly, he assumes to herself.

“ I don’t think it’s going well,” the other woman mumbles.

Saeran glances down at Max who is watching the women in front of her very intently. “Hey kid,” he says bumping her leg with his own. “What did you get to eat?”

Max shrugs, and the voices behind the door raise. “Are we going home after?” She asks.

It was his turn to shrug.

“ That doesn’t sound good,” the other woman whispers shuffling into the chair next to Cici.

“ No shit ,” Cici mutters shifting in her seat to be farther away.

Max grabs his hand and squeezes, her hand is small, it’s cold and damp from the slushy drink she’s been holding but Saeran squeezes back. “Do you want to go sit outside?” He asks, a little unsure she should be here. Callie had always seemed to do her best to not fight with Max’s father where Max could hear.

She watches the door but shakes her head no. “When are we going home?” she asks softly.

“ I don’t know kid,” he answers honestly. “I think Jumin is sending his plane for us.”

She perks up a little. “Is, is Jumin going to come too?” She asks in Korean.

Saeran shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”

Max sighs. “Are we going back to Oma and Opa’s tonight?”

Saeran was at a loss, he didn’t know what the plan was, the entire trip he’d mostly just trailed behind Callie and Saeyoung. He didn’t mind, he’d considered staying behind but the thought of spending Christmas alone, or being dragged along to Yoosung’s parents house had seemed almost overwhelming.

“ You’re with your Dad until Sunday Maxine,” Cici snaps.

“ Oh,” Max says and she squeezes his hand again.

“ Hey, you know what,” he says, trying to be chipper.

Max cocks her head towards him. “I bet we’ll go home right after that though.  _ And _ your mom and my stupid brother have hotel rooms right now, I bet you’ll get to order room service or something cool too.”

“ Yeah?” she says, starting to smile again.

“ And you know the boys are probably going to be waiting at the house for us right?”

She gasps a little, “Hyun said he had a present for me.”

Saeran laughs, he knows everyone has gifts for Max, he’s pretty sure the remaining RFA members are planning a second Christmas celebration for them. He’s also pretty sure he’s not supposed to say anything about it.

“ I think I’m going to be in trouble,” she whispers, leaning against him.

Something about the way she says it tugs at him, “I don’t think so.”

Her arms wrap around one of his and she buries her face in his sweater shaking her head. Saeran puts his plastic cup on the floor and pulls all 73lbs of Max into his lap. “I didn’t lie,” she whispers. “I told the truth.”

“ I’m sure you did,” he says into her hair. He feels stiff, the last time he’d held her like this had been when Saeyoung had fucked up telling her about the accident, but this time Max didn’t cry, she just leaned into his chest. Cici turns and frowns at him. “As long as you told the truth,” he says softly hugging her to him, “no one will be upset.”

“ Daddy will be,” she says so quietly he almost doesn’t hear.

“ You’re Dad’s a fucking asshole,” he says in Korean. Cici’s eyes narrow.

The door to the room opens roughly and Toby is the first one out, he’s followed by the three lawyers, then a baffled Saeyoung and Callie. Toby’s eyes lock on him and Max, his jaw sets and he growls. “Let’s go.”

Max sits up. “You can go if you want to,” Callie says softly.

“ Amy, get her things tonight,” he says sharply. “ _ You  _ know she doesn’t want to,  _ you _ said not to force her.”

Max looks at him and then at her Mom. “Can, can I go home?”

“ Soon,” Saeyoung says. Saeran can see things went well from his brother’s stupid smile but Callie looks cautious.

“ Am I in trouble?” She asks carefully.

Saeyoung reaches down and pulls her out of Saeran’s lap. Max is too big to be carried around, her legs dangle down past his knees but she throws her arms around his neck and buries her face in his collar. “Of course not, never ever, not for being honest,” he says quietly.

“ Uncle Sae says we can order room service,” she says lifting her head up.

Saeyoung sets her down on her feet. “He did, did he?”

Saeran shrugs and Callie laughs a little but her face quickly changes when she notices her ex-husband and his entourage leaving the courthouse.

“ Meet you at the car,” she calls over her shoulder as she jogs to catch up to them.

Saeran eyes his brother as he sets Max down. “So that’s it?”

Saeyoung shrugs, his face serious as his digs in Max’s coat pockets for his phone. “Sort of.”

He plugs his headphones into his phone and drops them over Max’s head. Saeran can hear a let’s play of some kind playing at what Callie would tell them was  _ way too loud _ .

“ We have full control over when Max gets to see her Dad,” he says quietly as they both take her hand and lead her towards the car.

“ Well he deserves it.”

“ That’s what I thought,” Saeyoung says, “but Callie wants to keep the schedule they had. All she wanted from today was for nothing to change but the advocate he hired talked to Max and said she was better off with limited access. Callie has the report but we only know the coles notes until we actually sit down and read it.”

“ So he fucked himself then?” Saeran asks.

Saeyoung shrugs.

They can see Callie coming towards the car when open the door for Max. Her face is red and her hair is a mess from the wind. She throws he hands in the air and shakes her head when they make eye contact. She climbs in the back with Max and the twins get in the front of the car.

“ Are you ok?” Saeyoung asks looking at her in the rear view mirror.

“ He’s a stubborn fuck-ass,” she says grabbing one of Max’s hands.

Saeran snorts.

“ What’s the plan then?”

Callie pulls the headphones off Max’s head. “Where do you want to get lunch kiddo?”


	51. custody 5

Callie insisted on going to T’s house alone. Saeran had been more opposed to this than her husband and she almost let him go but ultimately bringing either of them with would have been counter to her purpose. Callie was not afraid of her ex-husband, not truly, even with her anxiety at its highest she knew any fears of him physically harming her were more imagination than anything else.

She’d left Max with the twins and a pay-per-view movie. They’d been ordering room service, dessert first, when she’d slipped out the door. Max was alternating between taking every opportunity to call Saeyoung Dad and asking if she was in trouble.

Callie was relieved that Saeran was with them, he was always more than adept at keeping Max calm, turning her anxiety around. He could see it building in her little head before anyone else and often the first sign Callie had that anything was wrong was Saeran taking Max by the hand.

Callie sits in her rental car in T’s driveway looking over the documents from the Guardian Ad Lietum. Despite her ex-husband’s declaration this was exactly not what she wanted. T had forced her to court and all she’d wanted was for nothing about their schedule to change, and for T to cover his share of Max’s Judo fees.

She’d warned him, over and over, that this could happen. The report’s recommendation for visitation to be allowed only at Callie’s discretion seemed to hinge entirely on Max. Callie hoped she could reason with him, that she could talk him out of doing to his daughter he’d done to any person to ever criticize him.

She folds the paper and sets it on the seat next to her. She rests her head against the steering wheel and breathes deeply. The last thing she wants is to go in there and get in an argument. She begins to consider the way she will word what she wants to say to him. Was there a way to get him to really talk about Max without seeming like she was asking him to.

She jumps when someone knocks on the window.

“ Brave,” he sister says when she rolls down the window. “Didn’t bring the muppet babies with you.”

“ Could you try to be civil, Celia,” she sighs.

“ You’re consistent at least,” her sister lights a cigarette and leans against the hood of the car while Callie gets out.

“ What does that mean?”

“ You gave me all that shit about Soo-geun,” Cici gestures with her cigarette.

“ I don’t want to  _ take Toby’s daughter _ from him,” Callie snaps.

“ That’s my point,” her sister says in a puff of smoke. “I don’t like you but at least you’re not a hypocrite.”

“ If I go in there and tell him I don’t want to change visitation will it make a difference?” Callie asks.

Her sister shakes her head. “Don’t know. You know what he’s like. He already dumped the shack rat he brought to court, dumped her off at a Dunkin Donuts and peeled out of the parking lot.”

“ Jesus Christ.” Callie takes the cigarette from her sister and inhales, coughs, and hands it back. It’s been more than 10 years since she quit smoking but something about the situation made her feel the urge. The churning of her stomach after that little drag quickly changes her mind.

Her sister snorts. “Nina goes back to campus in the morning, I have to go home.”

“ About Nina,” Callie says when her sister starts to walk away. “Martin said she’s competing in Korea.”

“ That’s what she says,” Celia speaks through gritted teeth.

“ I know Soo-geun,” Callie says holding up a hand to stop her sister’s angry spew of words, “he doesn’t know I’m your sister but—”

“ Did you look him up? What the fuck Amy?” Celia takes an angry step towards her.

“ He works in legal at C&R. I didn’t know until recently but he deals with my contract, I’ve only met with him once, just after the accident.”

“ Real convenient Amy.”

“ If I thought Jumin had any idea I’d agree with you,” Callie shrugs, “but if Nina shows up at my place asking about her Dad I’m going to have to tell her where to find him I can’t—”

“ I get it,” Celia says, resigned. “Whatever.”

The door to the house swings open and T stands in the door, glowering.

“ Good luck,” her sister whispers as she walks away.

“ You left the twins in the Shining?” He calls from the door.

“ Is this what you want then?” She asks. Her heart is pounding in her throat as she approaches his doorway .

“ I suppose you want to tell me you told me so,” he says kicking a pile of boxes towards her.

“ I can if you want me to,” she struggles to sound nonplussed and picks up a few of the boxes, full of Christmas toys and clothes.

“ Say what you want to say,” he snaps following her to the car with his own pile.

“ Don’t do this.”

“ I’m not doing anything,” he grunts. She pops the trunk and starts arranging her pile of boxes neatly while he drops his in without a care. “She told a bunch of lies and she’s going to deal with the consequences.”

“ You’re not this oblivious about yourself,” Callie says matter-of-factly and follows him back in the house.

“ Then tell me about myself Amy, I know you want to.”

“I don’t need to, read the report, the recommendation happened because _Max_ _asked for it_ , _Max_ was worried about us going to court, she was worried about having to miss school to visit you because of your schedule, she was worried about things that _you_ said about me. So yeah I told you so, I told you if you kept putting our issues in front of Max you were going to fuck things up.”

T throws more boxes into her car and glares at her. “You love this.”

“ I really fucking don’t. I don’t want our current arrangement to change, you get Max for your summer leave, we alternate Christmas Holidays and barring Judo tournaments we can alternate her spring break.”

“ She doesn’t want to see me Amy.”

“ She’s 9,” Callie almost shouts. “If spring break rolls around and she’s really uncomfortable still maybe you can come to us, we have room at the new house.”

“ Yeah spend a week with you at the kiddie pool,” he rolls his eyes.

“ Some things aren’t about us,” she snaps. “Believe me after everything you’ve pulled this year I don’t  _ want _ you in my house, but the last thing I want is for Max to think he Daddy gave up on her.”

“ _ I  _ didn’t give up on her,” he says taking a menacing step towards Callie and shoving Max’s backpack at her. “She gave up on me.”

“ She’s  _ nine _ !” This time Callie does shout. “She’s going to give up on both of us hundreds of times before she’s an adult, it’s our job as her parents to earn her faith back any time we lose it not throw her away.”

“ I’m not throwing her away,” he says, “she calls your boyfriend Dad, she’ll be fine.”

“ You’re being a child,” Callie throws up her hands, T has the door closed so that only his face is visible anymore. “You’re still her father, she can have two Dad’s, it’s not like she has to chose between the two of you.”

“ She already has Amy,” he says as the door latches.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this wraps up the custody arc


	52. Homecoming 01

During the weeks Saeyoung and Calliope had been overseas Jumin had managed to bury himself in work, and most weeks had gone on with little change. In quiet moments he would miss them, wish he could see them but they were only a call away and no matter what he wanted Jumin would not begrudge them for having to do what was best for Max.

They made time to skype with him every week except this week past. After the holiday Callie was so busy between her court date, her meetings with Punch and Pie and the time difference, she either did not have the time or was sleeping when he was available. He’d spoken with Saeyoung a number of times, and they’d arranged for his plane to collect them in the next few days.

That had been where he was in the morning, Assistant Kang beside him as he went over the timeline with the crew, when they would arrive and when they would leave. The length of the flight left the crew an entire day between landing and departure and Jumin considered briefly hiring a second crew to bring them back.

Assistant Kang could quite possibly read his mind as a firm shake of her head told him to do no such thing.

He’s later than he’d like getting to his office, only an hour before he has to be midtown for a Luncheon with the investors. He feels her absence most at these events. The parties and dinners she hasn’t planned, but with her marriage somehow making the tabloids he was more than happy to field the barrage of questions on his own.  He reminds Assistant Kang that she is welcome to join him for the lunch, plenty of the investors will have their own assistant’s along with them, but she declines as usual.

The decor has changed since the last time he’d come here, he didn’t like the new colour scheme, though he appreciated the updated table setting.

Calliope had played piano with the Quartet instead of dining with him then. She’d worn a golden brown wig in a loose braid and a grey dress. Though he’d been assured there would be music he saw no sign of the band while he was led to his table.

He appreciated venues like this one, where there was no menu to choose from, where courses were brought to you and the only choice you made was what you’d like to drink.

“ All alone today, son?” one of the older men at the table smiles at him as the remains of the first course are whisked away from their table. It’s the first words spoken directly to him since he’d arrived.

“ Sadly yes,” he says as the quartet takes their seats.

“ A different violinist,” one of the women at the table remarks.

Jumin turns slightly, the little group had a revolving door of pianists but their violinist had never changed. An older man Jumin had enjoyed listening to since he’d begun to come to this place in his late teens. He hoped he wasn’t ill and made a mental note to have Assistant Kang look into it when he returned to the office.

He was seated in the wrong place to properly view the band, though in this situation they were not so much intended for viewing. The new violinist stood with her back mostly to him, long dark hair hanging loose over one shoulder, her dress stood out among the somber clothes of the other performers, a little short for the venue. Something about her holds his attention and he can’t put his finger on it.

“ It’s a shame about Ms. Miller,” the man beside him says with a cordial elbow in his side.

“ Hmm, I’m sorry, did something happen to her?” He asks nonchalantly, as if he doesn’t know where this is going.

“ We told you to put a ring on her finger or she’d find someone who would,” he laughs and Jumin struggles to hear the music over it.

“ Ms. Miller and I are simply friends,” he says for the hundredth time since the accident. “We’ve never been more than that, I’ve known her husband for many years.”

“ Yeah yeah,” the man chuckles.

“ She’s not bad,” the woman across from him remarks her eyes trained on the band.

“ A little amateur,” Jumin frowns, “but there is something refreshing about the way she plays.”

“ A music lover Mr. Han?” the older man remarks, “I never would have guessed.”

“ I played a little in my youth,” Jumin says absently as he watches the way she stands with one foot held out, pointed as if she could pick up a dance at any moment. He watches the way her heel dips with the count of her music.

_ Novice but clever, _ he thinks, remembering the way his instructor would rap his knuckles when he tapped out time with his toe. She could keep her time without distracting the other musicians.

“ She looks as though she could take flight at any moment,” the older man chuckles.

“ I wonder if they had to find her on short notice,” the woman whispers.

Another course is set in front of them and Jumin returns his attention to the business at hand. A few people stop alongside his table to say hello. Some ask of Calliope, some do not, but Jumin cannot bring his eyes to stray from the violinist for long. She seems almost unable to keep herself from swaying dramatically with her bow strokes. Shifting slightly and stopping abruptly every few notes.

The side of her face is barely visible and he can’t place why he feels like he should know her. The conversation dulls as the final course is set in front of them and Jumin shifts his seat as to better watch the musicians. The Cellist gives a little smile towards the violinist as she and the Viola player relax.

Jumin has little interest in his dessert; he sips his wine and watches the musicians. The violinist raises her bow and draws out the first few notes of Beethoven’s Sonata Number 9 and he leans on his elbow, a smile spreading across his face.

Before they’d left he’d played this with Calliope, she’d accompanied him on the piano while he played her violin. He watches the way she gives up and starts to sway with the music, the way her shoulder muscles dance with the draw of the bow in the low back of her dress. The force of her heel bouncing almost lifts her foot off the floor and for a moment Jumin thinks she may actually break into dance. He almost wishes she would so that he could better see her face.

He watches the way the arm holding the violin tenses and she contorts her body over it, it mirrors the way Calliope had hunched over her own violin early in her recovery, though nowhere as severe. Then she straightens again and squares her shoulders.

“ You’ve hired them before; do you know who she is Jumin?” The woman asks.

“ I do not,” he says almost sadly.

“ Hmm,” the woman says.

“ She’s stiff,” Jumin says, “but not unpleasant to listen to.”

“ I would be intrigued to see her play somewhere less formal,” the woman agrees.

Jumin can see the edge of her eyebrow raising and falling with the tempo of the music, each note reverberates through her entire body and he thinks of Calliope again. She would have enjoyed this, would have slapped his leg and hushed his critiques but agreed with him in the car on the way back to the office.

“ If it’s not insensitive of me to ask,” the woman says cautiously, “will Ms. Miller continue to join us for these little events?”

He inclines his head towards her. “Of course she will,” he furrows his brow but does not turn his head. “Ms. Miller’s job has not changed only your misunderstanding of our relationship.”

The woman laughs. “Yes well, I suppose assumptions were made.”

“ She would be here today but personal matters have her out of the country at the moment.”

The pianist begins Clair de lune and the violinist almost collapses into her chair, she leans forward and seems to speak with the other musicians before leaning back. Jumin regrets that he doesn’t have an excuse to stay longer, that he doesn’t have a reason to walk to the far end of the room and see her face. She turns her head slightly, her profile almost in view if not for her hair and he fancies that she’s trying to look at him.

Jumin says his goodbyes to the table and leaves.

The afternoon drags on. He instructs his Assistant to find out if the usual violinist was ill and asks her to send a note to Calliope about the woman who filled in.

“ Tell her that many of our investors were intrigued by the woman’s performance and ask her to find out who she was so we may perhaps have her play a more informal venue.”

“ Perhaps at the next RFA party,” Assistant Kang suggests, but Jumin shrugs. He only wants to go home, and watch something boring to put himself to sleep so that the next few days go by much faster than this one.

He wanted to be able to touch her again, to brush her hair out of her face, to be able to fix her collar when it turns up, to kiss her nose when she makes a face at him, and brush his fingers against hers while they sit on her sofa listening to Saeyoung and Max play video games.

He longs for the weight of Saeyoung’s head against his side, or on his thigh. The way the smaller man could manage to touch him so subtly in public with no one around him the wiser, for the tangling of the fingers while they thumbed through their phones.

The press of his forehead against either of theirs.

It’s early when he stands abruptly and declares he’s going home.

“ Mr. Han there’s only 2 hours left in the work day, surely you can stay that long.” Assistant Kang chastises him.

“ There is nothing left to do here that can’t be done in the comfort of my own home.”

She sighs and shakes her head. “Your plane hasn’t even landed yet,” she says.

He pretends he doesn’t hear and texts Driver Kim to meet him out front.

*

Her flight was delayed, she was going to be late. She hates driving Saeyoung’s baby, but she’s thankful for the keys he’d slipped in her pocket when he dropped her off at the airport.

No time to go home, to shower and change, Callie makes the turn towards Jumin’s penthouse. She knows he’s at work right now, in fact she knows he’s only barely gotten to work thanks to Jaehee’s texting her about his impatience with the crew of his plane.

She curses having only brought back what she could fit in her carry on, the only dress she had left at Jumin’s was a cocktail dress, it hit a little above the knee and was cut low in the back, it was flashy for her purposes and she knew he’d take time to give her shit the second he got her alone, maybe before.

She’s late to the venue, too late to have Jumin’s seating changed so that he could sit near where they’d be playing. She‘d even had to make a frantic call to one of the musicians begging to borrow a violin on her way to Jumin’s having no time to go to the house and get her own. The viola player is even later.

She’d practiced the entire trip home, downloading an app at the recommendation of the Violinist who usually performed with the group. It didn’t help her with her bow work but she could at least practice her fingering.

When they finally take their places the lunch is in full swing, two or three courses in at least. She can see Jumin sitting at his table his back mostly to her and she sighs as the Cellist gives her a bump with her elbow.

They start with Mozart and it’s everything she has to try to stand properly, to not make this the Callie Miller show.  As much as she wants to make this Jumin’s version of jumping out of a cake she was asking a big favor of these musicians, she wouldn’t take advantage of their kindness.

“ Relax,” the cellist whispers with a smile. “He keeps looking at you.”

She tries to position herself so that she can see him but the best she can do is keep him in her peripheral.

The band had asked her what she was comfortable playing, they’d played with her before but always with her on the piano, never the violin and though she had been practicing she hadn’t played since she’d left for the states, hadn’t performed with her violin since long before Max was born.

When it comes time to play Sonata No. 9 the cellist leans forward and whispers “he can’t take his eyes off you.”

“ Of course not,” Callie whispers back, “this dress is ridiculous.”

The Viola player chuckles softly.

She barely makes it through the song, she can feel her arm starting to drag, as well as her recovery had gone she hadn’t tried to play anything for this long without her medication, let alone do something that had her holding her arms this high for any length of time. She gives in to the desire to sway, if only to distract her from the pain in her shoulders and neck, she doesn’t even hear the piano accompanying her, forgets that Jumin is here, there is just Callie and her borrowed violin.

And then it’s over, and she sits as the pianist strikes up Claire De Lune. She tries to steady her breath and the beating of her heart in her throat.

“ He’s watching you pretty intently,” the viola player says softly, his lips barely moving.

“ I don’t think he recognizes you though,” the cellist shrugs.

Callie sits back in her chair. From the corner of her eye she can see Jumin standing, shaking hands with the people around him and leaving. She tries to keep her posture but her shoulders drop and she slouches a little.

“ You can go if you want,” the Cellist suggests, “there’s only one more song before we’re done.”

“ No,” Callie shakes her head, “nothing about today followed the plan, I should see this through.”

They complete their set, Callie stands with the other musicians and leaves without a production. It’s only been twenty minutes since Jumin has left and she knows he’ll have gone back to the office. No excuses to leave at lunch today; he’d expect her and Saeyoung to be busy preparing to come home.

Callie calls Driver Kim on her way to the penthouse and asks him if he could recommend someone to take her husband’s car back to the airport. If she’s going to stay with Jumin for the next few days there’s no point in having it and she knew he’d only given her a spare key. Besides it was only a few days, no reason to meet him at the airport unless the rest of the RFA decided they wanted to do something.

She steps out of the elevator at the penthouse, her heels already hanging off her wrist and almost runs to Jumin’s door.

“ Remember,” she calls out to his security, “you saw  _ nothing _ .”

Jumin’s house keeper jumps when she opens the door but smiles at her a little relieved. “I’m almost finished Ms. Miller.”

Callie laughs and then stops abruptly. “Actually could you do me a huge favor?” she pleads with Jumin’s house keeper to shop for her, insists she can’t trust anyone else, talks a little too much about how terribly her plans have gone, how exhausted she is.

Jumin’s house keeper is laughing and patting her hand when she finishes. She assures Callie that  _ of course _ she could pick up the small list of things Callie has written down for her. Callie presses more than enough cash for the short list into her hand and considers hugging her for a moment before letting her go.

“ If I’m in the shower when you get back just put the bags in the fridge, I haven’t been here in weeks I’m sure it’s empty.”

The housekeeper laughs and Callie is already in the bathroom before the woman can even get out the door.

She takes the shower she didn’t have time for in the morning and braids her hair loosely out of her face.  _ Of course he didn’t recognize you, _ she chastises herself in his mirror and yawns.  _ You’re hair hasn’t been this dark in years, he didn’t even get to see your face, did you even get a chance to wear this dress before you hung it in your room? _

She doesn’t want to change out of the dress, she wants to see the realization dawn across his face when he sees it. So she dries off and pulls it back on.

Callie digs through the small bag she’d brought with her but she’s somehow forgotten to pack a sweater,  _ in January _ , she groans and goes to Jumin’s closet. There’s a heavy green sweater with cables that would remind her of the fisherman sweaters her Oma used to knit if not for the fact that it was a cardigan. She pulls it off the hanger and slides her arms into it.

It smells like Jumin, like leather and citrus and bergamot. It’s only an hour or two until he comes home now and she can feel the long flight and jet leg catching up to her. She sets an alarm on her phone just in case and curls up on his sofa, Elizabeth III jumping up after her and curling up on her feet while she settles in to mindlessly thumb through the internet and wait.


	53. homecoming 02

Jumin is exhausted. It’s barely 3pm when he opens the door to his penthouse and he finds himself excited to simply lay on his bed with Elizabeth III. He’s not certain he’ll do anything but lie there and listen to her purr while contemplating the ceiling.

The first thing he notices when he opens the door is that the soft music he’s left on for his cat is  _ wrong _ . He stands stiffly in the entry but it’s not the first time since they’d left that he’d set the wrong music to play before he’d left in the morning. He hangs his coat by the door and pulls off his shoes.

He slips off his jacket and loosens his tie as he steps past the kitchen. The second thing he notices is the wine glass sitting on the island. He knows his housekeeper had been here in the afternoon, his security team had alerted him when she arrived, and it was unlike her to leave things unfinished. Jumin sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

He hangs his jacket off of a stool and rolls up his sleeves, Calliope would chastise him if he were to call and make complaints,  _ it’s only one glass, Jumin, not the end of the world. _ Except when he picks the glass up to wash it himself he notices a smudge of lipstick on the edge. He stares at it for much too long, light coloured, slightly purple, he’s never actually seen his housekeeper while she worked, did she drink his wine in the middle of the day while she cleaned?

That seemed unlikely but he imagined Saeyoung’s laughter,  _ you wouldn’t even notice if she drank an entire bottle every time she came as long as the place was spotless _ . He washes the glass, dries it and opens the cupboard to put it away before changing his mind.

_ A glass of wine wouldn’t hurt _ , he decides noticing the opened bottle on the counter, tucked in behind the coffee maker.  Jumin pours himself a glass of wine from the opened bottle, he tries to remember if he’d opened a second bottle the night before. He considers that perhaps he should refrain from drinking alone in the evenings if he did.

The third thing he notices is the arm hanging over the edge of his sofa. The teal coloured phone barely held in it’s palm, a tuft of dark hair fanned across it. He sets the glass down on the island and stares for a moment. The music, the wine glass, the teal phone.

_ She’s home _ , he thinks stepping around the sofa to properly see her. She’s fast asleep, wrapped in his sweater; it’s obvious by her posture she hadn’t planned to fall asleep. Elizabeth III is stretched out on her chest, comfortably nestled between his lovers breasts and he feels a pang of jealousy, but only for a moment.

Jumin sits on the coffee table and watches her sleep, a little bit of black peeks out from the twisted edges of his sweater but whatever she’s wearing underneath has ridden up and twisted around her hips. He brushes her hair away from her face, she’d told him about the extensions and that she’d coloured her hair but this deep brown was not what he’d expected when she’d told him she’d gone back to her natural colour.

He wants to touch her, to straighten out her clothing, carry her to the bed, tuck her in and lay beside her watching her sleep but he’s afraid to disturb her. There’s a battle in his head as he watches Elizabeth flex her paws out and yawn on Calliope’s chest. Should he leave her sleep or should he wake her?

She had obviously intended to greet him when he came home, but the flight was long and the time difference extreme, she certainly earned her sleep. Stubborn woman that she was she’d probably flown coach, he couldn’t even imagine. She would be upset that she fell asleep but she would be better for it.

Jumin collects his wine from the kitchen and fishes his phone out of his pocket before sitting back down on the coffee table to watch her.

**[Jumin Han]:** You appear to have lost your wife.

**[707]:** I definitely noticed something was missing.

**[707]:** Did you ravage her in a bathroom

**[707]:** I should have heard something sooner.

**[707]:** Are there photos of whatever kept you busy?

**[707]:** it’s still days before I get to see you

He knows he needs to respond and Saeyoung’s barrage of texts have him smiling broadly at his phone while he tries to formulate a response. Perhaps her flight had been late and she’d meant to meet him in the office.

**[Jumin Han]:** I’ve only just gotten home, she’s asleep on the sofa.

“ Hey, what are you smiling at,” a groggy voice says. “I’m not complaining, that’s a lovely face to wake up to.”

“ Good afternoon Ms. Miller,” Jumin smiles setting his phone aside.

“ Shit, I fell asleep,” she groans and sits up, oblivious to the cat lounging on her chest.

Elizabeth III hops to the back of the sofa and gives them a displeased look before slinking off.

“ I set an alarm,” Callie frowns thumbing through her phone and then frowning at Jumin, “you’re home early Mr. Director.”

Jumin chuckles. “Please don’t look at me like that. Assistant Kang makes the same face, the resemblance is disconcerting.”

“ I learned this face from Jaehee,” she retorts. “Disconcerting is its entire purpose.” She laughs and stretches, pushing herself to standing. “I need coffee,” she smiles down at him and turns towards the kitchen.

Jumin grabs her hand before she can walk away and pulls her back to him.

Her skirt has untangled from her body and peeks crumpled out from beneath his sweater as he pulls her against him and wraps his arms around her waist. He holds her there for a moment, his head resting against her stomach as she combs her fingers through his hair.

“ I’ve missed you,” he says looking up at her.

She kisses him, a soft pressing of lips and another comb of her fingers through his hair. “I’m glad to be back.” She smiles straightening her back and extracting herself from his grip.

She puts her favorite mug under the single cup coffee maker and slips the sweater off while she waits for it to pour; she tosses it from the kitchen to the nearest chair in the living room and smiles at Jumin as she smoothes out her skirt.

“ How was your lunch,” she asks casually as if his mouth had not just fallen open.

“ What time did your plane land?” He asks walking to the kitchen and avoiding the obvious question she wants him to ask.

“ Later than it was supposed to,” she shrugs stirring milk into her coffee as if she didn’t spend two hours with her back to him playing violin this afternoon.

He presses her against the counter, spilling a little of her coffee and pressing a kiss to her neck. “I’m sorry,” he whispers stepping back.

Callie turns to face him and leans against the counter. “It was a stupid idea,” she shrugs. “My flight was delayed, I didn’t have time to go home for proper clothing, or shower, or get my own violin. You’re lucky you didn’t recognize me I smelled like sweat and stale airplane air. I was too late to rearrange seating so that you could see me, and the viola player was late because he had to pick up a Violin for me to borrow. Then we were late starting so you left before we were done, it was a mess.”

She drinks deeply and watches him over the brim of her mug.

Jumin blushes and laughs.

“ Oh no,” she says cocking her head. “You were critiquing me while I played weren’t you?” Her cheeks flare red and she frowns at him. “Was I awful, I had to practice with my phone on the plane, I asked them for pieces I knew but, god was it really bad?”

“ It wasn’t awful,” he says and she glares at him unconvinced. “In fact if you check your email you’ll see I’d already had Ms. Kang ask you to find out who the violinist was so that we could have her play at another event.”

Callie snorts. “Really?”

“ Yes, one of the investors was quite taken with your playing. There were critiques but  _ my table _ was quite charmed by you.”

She drops her head and slaps him lightly on the arm. “Fuck off.”

“ I’d even,” he laughs a little to himself, “I’d thought how much you would like seeing  _ her _ play. I couldn’t take my eyes off you, I’d been looking forward to telling you about her.”

Callie barks out a laugh. “I’m going to change into something more comfortable, you can keep flattering me while I do.”

He shakes his head. “What would you like to eat tonight, I will call my chef and alter the menu.”

She peeks around the corner and frowns. “You’ll call and give Chef the night off, I’m going to cook for you.”

“ There’s nothing here to cook,” he calls after her.

“ That’s what you think,” she shouts from her bedroom.

*

Callie had spent her first night back in Jumin’s bed. There had been the usual things one does in bed when reunited with a lover but then she’d stayed. Normally neither of them were prone to cuddling in their sleep and eventually she would get up and retire to her own room but that night she’d asked if he would mind her staying and he found himself relieved that she did.

They had two entire days before Saeyoung, Saeran, and Max returned. Two days to themselves, or so he’d hoped until her alarm when off and she practically pushed him out of bed.

“ I don’t want anyone to know I’m back,” she’d pouted when he told her he’d planned to take the day off and spend it with her. “I’m going to sneak home while Jaehee is at the office and get some of my things but don’t tell anyone I’m here.”

“ I thought we’d invite the others out for dinner tonight,” he sighed as she pulled on her clothes.

“ No,” she whined helping him button his shirt. “I don’t want to leave this penthouse once I’ve gotten my things; I just want to stay here.”

He makes a disapproving sound and she bats her eyelashes dramatically at him. “I have already made plans to stay home tomorrow,” he informs her.

She hands him a tie with a look that suggests she doesn’t quite believe him but an alarm on her phone goes off before she can say anything.

He glances over her shoulder as she fires off a text reminding Saeran to make sure his pills are in his laptop bag, and another to Saeyoung to double check that his brother has his pills with him before they leave.

“ I notice you’ve not taken anything since you’ve been back.”

“ I took a muscle relaxer before you got home, but no I haven’t. My anxiety has been pretty manageable since we met with the mediator.”

“ Closure has cured you then?” he smiles placing a kiss on her cheek as they pull their shoes on.

“ I wish,” she snorts, “I have PTSD Jumin, it won’t just go away but it’s under control for now.”

“ I’m sorry.”

She shrugs and he silently chastises himself for not taking a moment to think before he speaks. As often as he insisted she keep him informed about her health struggles he almost as frequently seemed to put his foot in his mouth.

She pulls her coat on and follows him out the door, slipping her hand into his and leaning against him as they board the elevator. Her head rests on his shoulders until they feel it settle on the ground floor. She takes a step away from him and drops his hand, slipping her big sunglasses from the top of her head to her face.

They sit in comfortable silence leaning against one another in the back of his sedan as Driver Kim takes him to work. Her head rests against his shoulder and her fingers trace the lines of his hand.

“ You could call me once you’re settled in your office,” she suggests as the car slows, “we could video chat all day like I’m there?”

“ I had mostly planned to review the quarterly reports before they were sent out, there are a few contract renewals to take care of, it would be quite boring for you.”

She shrugs and kisses his cheek. “It doesn’t matter, it would be nice to just see you whenever I looked at my phone.”

He smiles and squeezes her hand as the car stops. “I’ll a call you when I’m settled.” He presses a quick kiss to her lips before he gets out of the car.

*

She lets him have a meal prepared the second night, they drink wine and Saeyoung calls them from the plane to assure them that nothing was forgotten.

“ _ Except Max _ ,” he shouts dramatically and there’s a squeal in the background, followed by Saeran calling him an idiot.

Callie laughs, her face flushed from the wine they’ve been drinking, she talks briefly to Max and then turns to Jumin. He can tell by the way her eyes are downcast and she chews on her bottom lip that her husband is insinuating something to her about his return and a shiver of want curls in his belly.

Callie’s face shifts and she cackles loudly before she hangs up her phone. She picks at the sweets she’d baked while he was at work and he hands her another glass of wine. If Saeyoung was here he’d be sprawled on the sofa with Elizabeth III eyeing him suspiciously from the chair while he  _ encouraged  _ them to dance.

He’s reaching for her hand as the Ink Spots begin to croon at them from the speaker on the wall when there’s a knock and his door swings open.

“ Oh, hello Mr. Han,” Callie smiles at his father.

“ Oh,” his father stops abruptly. “Welcome back Ms. Miller.”

“ Did you need something,” Jumin frowns.

“ The contracts you brought home with you yesterday,” his father begins.

“ I left them with your Assistant this afternoon before I left.”

“ Hmm, yes there was one missing.” Mr. Han frowns at Jumin.

“ There’s wasn’t, Noelle terminated her contract.”

“ That seems unlike her,” his father frowns. “Your, hmm, Noelle,” he glances at Callie, “practically demanded that job.”

Jumin shrugs.

“ What firm is she going to?”

Jumin shakes his head. Callie leans against the counter and watches the two men; she wonders who the person they’re talking about is to them. “She said she’s sick of corporate restriction and the ridiculous conservatism forced upon her art, she intends to freelance and prepare an exhibition. Apparently Mr. Kim approached her last year.”

Mr. Han sighs. “Of course he did. What about her clients, she has a few who are very loyal.”

“ I’ve already begun arranging a freelance contract so that we don’t lose any clients; she’s agreed to work with the ones that are a flight risk on our behalf.”

His father nods, satisfied and leaves as abruptly as he’d entered.

“ Who is Noelle?” Callie asks with a smirk on her face.

Jumin groans. “Our parents were almost married when we were teenagers but you know what my father is like.”

“ He got bored?”

Jumin nods. “Noelle had a  _ tough _ few years after that, we kept in touch sparingly, she was working in our advertising department but she’s always been an artist. It doesn’t surprise me that Mr. Kim approached her to do a gallery.”

“ You mean V’s father?”

He nods and swallows. “She was  _ close _ with Jihyun when we were young.”

“ So she’s almost like your sister.”

Jumin shrugs. “I suppose we will always be siblings of a sort. We were very close as teenagers, but that was a long time ago.”

“ Sometimes I go more than a year without talking to Wyatt,” she says softly, “but we’re still just as close when one of us finally remembers to pick up the phone.”

“ Hmm,” Jumin says thoughtfully taking her by the hand and pulling her towards him. “Yes I suppose we are like that also.” He holds her against him and begins to lead her in a simple box step.

She leans against him her head resting on his shoulder as she follows his lead, she laughs when he spins and dips her, placing a kiss on the tip of her nose.


	54. homecoming 03

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is a short update.

Callie had fallen asleep on his couch that night and he hadn’t the heart to move her. He’d laid the blanket from her bed over her and left her in her leggings and loose shirt when he climbed into the bed. They didn’t sleep wrapped in one another that night and he fell asleep to the steady sound of her breathing beside him.

“ There’s a message on your phone from Hyun,” she says perched on a stool in the kitchen. Her wet hair is twisted into a bun on top of her head and she’s wearing one of Saeyoung’s T-shirts and a pair of athletic socks.

Hyun wanted to know what time Jumin’s plane would arrive with the Chois. He thought they should all be to the Airport at least 30 minutes early. Callie peered over his shoulder and snorted causing him to jump.

“ I will let him know that we will be there.”

“ You’ll do no such thing,” she hissed. “Just tell him the time, and that you’ll be there.”

“ You won’t be coming then?” he smirks at her and she slaps him lightly on the back.

“ Fuck off.”

It was a lazy day. Callie watched TV with her head resting against his hip while he went over the last of the reports and fielded phone calls. She made him lunch and brought him tea. They talked about the results of her meeting with the mediator in detail and he held her while she cried.

She was upset at the childish stubbornness of her ex husband and the thought that Max may blame herself for the loss of her father. Jumin assured her that Max would be fine, that if she was uncomfortable enough to express to someone she did not know that she didn’t want to stay with her father then perhaps she was better off.

“ What if she resents me?” Callie says softly, her face buried in his chest.

“ Max is a very bright young lady, why would she resent you?”

“ I moved her here. That was when things with T went wrong for her, what if she grows up and wishes I’d never come here.”

“ I think the degradation of their relationship was inevitable,” Jumin responds thoughtfully. “Your ex-husband would have eventually done this whether you’d moved on in a foreign country or not. Saeyoung will be a better father to her than Mr. Krieger could have been.”

“ But she shouldn’t have had to pick between them,” Callie sighs. “He didn’t have to make her choose.”

“ I don’t think anyone forced her to choose,” Jumin frowns. “The only person who made a choice was him.”

He holds her a while longer. Eventually the conversation turns to work, events she should begin planning, the convention and tournament schedule she’ll be covering, and the new time slot for her stream.

Callie orders fried chicken take out and insists he eat it with his hands, they fall asleep on the couch watching historical dramas.

*

They wake up late, her phone having died sometime in the night so that the alarm did not go off. She has to rush to dressed and get out the door on time to meet everyone at the airport. Jumin is beside himself laughing while he holds the lighted mirror in the car so she can apply her makeup.

“ Could you stop that, it’s like trying to decode one of your photos,” she grouses, it only makes him laugh harder.

She gets a text from Saeyoung that they’ve landed and the plane is still taxying as they walk into the airport. She walks a little behind Jumin, her big sunglasses hiding most of her face and her new, symmetrical, dark hair, down over her shoulders.

She can see Zen, Jaehee, and Yoosung standing at the international gate. Zen has already claimed two baggage carts and she laughs a little. Jumin glances back at her but she shoves him forward.

“ I can’t believe you’re late,” Zen snaps when he sees Jumin.

“ Calm down, the plane has only just landed,” Jumin says.

“ Still,” Jaehee chastises, “you should have been more punctual.”

Callie hangs back, she watches the three of them gang up on Jumin a little, admonishing him for being so blasé. She slips to the coffee kiosk in sight of the gate and orders drinks for everyone before she slips back to the little group unnoticed. They’re still laying into Jumin who seems to be taking it all in stride, likely only because he knows something they do not.

“ Calm down,” she says handing Jumin a cup of tea and fishing her phone out of her pocket. She frowns at the screen in the bright light of the airport lobby and then pushes up her sunglasses. “They’re just getting off now, I think they still have to go through customs, we have plenty of time.”

Yoosung is already squealing before she’s stopped talking, Jaehee and Zen hug her as she hands them coffee. Jumin takes the tray from her and she swings the little bag she’s been carrying off her back.

“ You didn’t need to get those,” Jumin points to the cart. “There is a car already waiting for their things to be loaded directly into.”

“ Really?” Callie says, tuning her Ukelele. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“ It’s not unusual Calliope,” he shakes his head at her. “We’ve never waited at the baggage claim before have we?”

She shrugs. “I don’t usually have more than a knapsack.”

“ When did you get back?” Jaehee asks, her eyes narrow on Jumin.

“ A few days ago. I surprised him and I made him swear not to tell anyone.”

All five of their phones chirp, vibrate and sing at once, a gif in their group text from Saeyoung and the word freedom in all caps.

“ It’s official,” Yoosung whines, “I never know if it’s him or Max on his phone.”

“ It’s him,” Callie laughs raising her Uke. “Max would have used Kermit, Saeyoung always uses the fire Elmo.”

*

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't follow me on either twitter or tumblr, quick personal update, I'm rolling all my updates back a bit, my usual bi weeklies are going to run once a week on rotating weeks. PI will update on Monday, then the next week EHC will update on Tuesday, etc.
> 
> My new Yoosung/MC gamer AU is going to run weekly [wed] while I finish my Rare Pair fics as a filler.
> 
> SAD is a fun time y'all but I should be back to posting way too much by the end of Feb.
> 
> In the meantime feel free to follow me on twitter @BotanyVampire or tumblr @botany-enthused-vampire


	55. homecoming 04

“ We’ve got two hours before we’re supposed to be at Hyun’s,” Callie says walking out of the bathroom with a towel over her head, “do you two want to get lunch or can I start unpacking?”

She opens the big closet door, and hangs her damp towel over the knob. She’s lived out of a suit case for more than a month and something about the clothes hanging in her closet seems comforting and overwhelming at the same time. It might be still January but she appraises the row of sun dresses while she braids her damp hair.

Jumin had been sitting on the little sofa in her bedroom with Saeyoung’s head resting on his thigh while the two of them thumbed through their phones when she’d excused herself to shower, and without a response she started to wonder if perhaps they’d fallen asleep.

She pulls a yellow sundress off its hanger, her favorite cardigan off of a hook and closes the door softly, looking for where her husband and boyfriend have disappeared to. They hadn’t gone far.

Callie drapes the clothing she’d grabbed over the back of the couch and watches them for a minute. Saeyoung is laying on the bed his arm thrown over his face and his pants around his ankles, Jumin is kneeling between his thighs, his pants are gone, his shirt unbuttoned, one big hand on Saeyoung’s hip holding him firm as he bobs his head lazily along the length of her husband’s cock.

She wonders briefly if Jumin looks as lovely to Saeyoung when he’s nestled between her own thighs.

She considers leaving them be, they’ve always been more reserved with each other than with her and she doesn’t want to intrude. She’s had Saeyoung to herself for so long, and she’s had Jumin to herself for the last few days.

She moves towards the stairs, Max is with Yoosung and Jaehee had already gathered her things and left before Jumin’s plane had landed. They were alone in the house, just the three of them.

She stops and glances back at them, Saeyoung brushes Jumin’s hair out of his face, a smile spreads across her face at the way Jumin leans into the touch. She feels that pull in her groin when Jumin hollows his cheeks and her husband  _ whimpers _ .

Callie grasps the railing to the stairs, she has to leave them now or she won’t be able to, they deserve their reunion. The second stair groans when she steps onto it and there’s a wet pop as Jumin turns to look at her, standing naked on the stairs, not quite ready to look away from them as she leaves.

“ Hmm, where are you going?” One hand lazily stroking Saeyoung as he smirks at her.

“ I thought I’d start lunch,” she whispers, her cheeks pink.

Saeyoung turns his head and tilts it up slightly, his arm still thrown across his eyes. He bites his lip and smiles at her. “Dressed like that?” he starts to chuckle but it catches in his throat as hips roll against Jumin’s hand.

“ You don’t want to join us?” Jumin asks, he pouts slightly and she almost laughs.

“ I didn’t want to intrude,” she says softly, and wets her lips.

Jumin shrugs and she watches his head dip to swirl his tongue around Saeyoung’s tip, eliciting another strained moan from her husband that tugs at her core.

Callie steps off the stairs and walks towards them, she slips Jumin’s shirt off of his shoulders and presses her arms around Jumin’s middle. She drags her nails across his chest, her tongue traces the shell of his ear as hedraws his tongue the length of her husband’s cock.

She peppers kisses along his shoulders, her hands trail down his chest and she drags her nails the length of his abdomen, she teases light touches along his balls before grasping his cock properly, he bucks into her hand once before he manages to control himself and she smiles into his neck as she bites down drawing out a low growl.

Saeyoung’s moans turn to giggles and there’s the wet sound of husband’s length dropping from Jumin’s mouth. He pulls her hands away and turns to face her, covering her mouth in a vicious kiss, his tongue delving into her mouth, claiming it as his over and over until she could hardly catch her breath.

When he pulls away she feels almost dizzy. Saeyoung has propped himself up on one elbow and has kicked his pants off so that they dangle from one foot. Jumin turns her and gives her a little shove so that she falls forward on the bed next to her husband, he slaps her on the ass roughly and turns to Saeyoung.

“ Did I tell you to move?” he growls.

“ Didn’t know we were playing that game,” Saeyoung smirks at him.

Jumin straddles his thighs, one hand braced on Callie’s ass and pushes Saeyoung back down on the bed. Even as Jumin yanks his head back by his hair to bite at his neck her husband’s hand reaches out, he groans as he traces the line of her jaw with his thumb. Jumin’s fingers dig into the flesh of her ass before he lets go, another echoing slap lands there before his hand is gone and she let’s of a small yelp.

“ Come here,” Jumin commands her and she pulls herself up, moving to straddle Saeyoung’s chest so that she can kneel in front of him.

Saeyoung’s hands go to her thighs almost immediately; he squeezes them and moves to her ass as Jumin leans in to capture her lips in a kiss. Softer than the last, he holds himself and Saeyoung in his hand as he rolls his hips into his hand and moans against her lips.

Saeyoung urges her towards him and she feels a puff of breath against her ass and then teeth, and then his tongue parts her folds, delving into her. She leans forward to swirl her tongue along their tips, Jumin grabs her by the shoulders, pressing her up and catching her lips in another searing kiss, his hands pawing roughly at her chest as he slowly lowers himself onto Saeyoung.

Her husband’s moan vibrates through her core and he urges her up for better access as Jumin settles on him. She has to brace her hands on Jumin’s waist to achieve the angle her wants and she tilts her head to smile wickedly up at Jumin before turning to tease his tip with her tongue when he lifts his hips to ride Seayoung.

“ Mmm, no,” he says, one hand under her chin.

Saeyoung’s hand finds her hair and tugs her head back, a strangled moan escapes her throat and Jumin presses forward to tease her nipple with his teeth.

Jumin’s breath is coming out in growls and she can feel Saeyoung’s breath catching as his body tenses beneath her.

“ Move,” Jumin commands and she collapses to one side, Jumin drags Saeyoung up to meet him, covering him in sloppy kisses. He nips at his neck and commands him to come. She watches him let Saeyoung drop to the bed riding out her husband’s orgasm before turning his gaze on her.

“ Poor Calliope,” he coos gesturing for her to come closer. He kisses her softly before pulling her back against him so that she kneels over Saeyoung looking down on him.

Jumin’s lips brush her neck as he sighs. “You’re husband’s left us wanting hasn’t he?”

Saeyoung’s arms are thrown over his face again and she presses back against Jumin, trapping his erection between them. Her husband whimpers beneath them and she hears Jumin moan softly as she grinds her ass against him.

He pushes her down. “How selfish of him,” Jumin growls teasing her slit with his cock.

“ Please,” she whispers Saeyoung’s tongue runs the length of her sternum and she shudders as Jumin enters her.

He presses his body against her as he enters her over and over, drawing out to the tip and slamming in until she thinks she’ll go mad. Saeyoung rolls her clit between his fingers as his tongue laps lazily at her nipples and she can feel her legs go weak.

“ Your turn,” Saeyoung smirks catching her lips in a kiss before her orgasm washes over her and Jumin pulls her up to slam into her, his own hips stuttering, pace faltering as he shouts her name.

They collapse, Jumin to the side, Callie on top of Saeyoung, sweaty and panting. Callie laughs when she catches her breath “So much for my shower.”

Jumin presses a kiss between her shoulder blades and Saeyoung snorts into her neck.

She extracts herself from the pile of bodies and shakes her head. Saeyoung and Jumin are already moving towards the en suite when she picks up her things from where she’d dropped them by the stairs.

She can hear her husband’s laugher as she grabs a pair of leggings from her dresser, the sounds of round two as she crests the stairs to clean up and change in the upstairs bathroom.

They’re late to Hyun’s second Christmas celebration. There’s round three heading out the door to blame, and then round three in the back of Saeyoung’s car on the way causing him to purposely take the long way.

Hyun lists her up in a bear hug when he opens the door and she’s quick to adjust her sweater to cover the marks on her shoulder when he sets her down. Yoosung’s blush suggests she’s not quite quick enough but she’s thankful that he’s too flustered to say anything.

“ It’s pretty festive in here for just a  _ casual _ get together Hyun,” Callie remarks, as if she doesn’t know what they’ve planned.

“ Max and Saeran went to get Bungeo-ppang from the truck down the street,” Yoosung says.

“ Sweet, I’ve got a craving for guts!” Saeyoung chuckles turning on his heels and rushing back out the door.

Callie laughs. “Please tell me you guys didn’t go overboard.”

“ I don’t know what you mean,” Jaehee smirks.

“ You know exactly what I mean, I barely have the space for the things she brought back with her from my family, please tell me you were reasonable.”

Hyun frowns at Jumin.

“ Don’t look at him, for an actor you are a shitty liar Hyun,” Callie laughs.

The three of them hang their heads a little and she frowns at Jumin.

“ Why are you looking at me like that?”

“ Can you promise me you haven’t gotten us anything else?” she asks.

Jumin shrugs.

“ Are you fucking kidding me?”

“ Nothing for you,” he smirks, “you’re ungrateful, I’ll only be buying gifts for Max from now on.”

Jaehee snorts.

It doesn’t take long for Max and the twins to get back to Hyun’s apartment, and the RFA is so eager for their celebration that the gift giving starts almost immediately after. It’s not as extravagant as Callie had feared, just a few items from each of them, mostly for Max.

Hyun orders a pizza and they share a few drinks. Callie is leaning against the counter drinking a glass of water when Saeran finds her. “I bet my idiot brother didn’t tell you to call Nina when we got back yesterday.”

“ Of course he didn’t,” Callie snorts, “because he’s an idiot.”

Saeran laughs.

“ Did she say what about?” she asks.

Saeran shrugs. “I think it was skating, Max said she’s going to a competition here?”

“ I’ve heard that rumor,” Callie says. “Martin told me when I was in the hospital that she was fundraising for it, but I think I heard that she’s got a sponsor now.”

Callie suspects she knows exactly what her niece is calling about.

*

She forgets about calling Nina until her phone rings a few nights later and she sees her nieces name on the caller ID.

“ Oh my god,” she whispers, “you have the best timing, I’m trapped in a very fancy bathroom wondering exactly who would actually use a bidet on purpose.”

“ Just one more trauma to add to the list,” her niece laughs. “Wait why are you trapped?”

“ I’m hiding?” Callie laughs. “The grabbiest hands in the middle east are deep in conversation with my boyfriend.”

Nina snorts. “Real tough Aunt Cal.”

“ The last time I saw him he asked me to dance and I had a bruise on my ass for a week, but you didn’t call so I could complain about the oil prince, what’s going on?”

“ Ok,” Nina’s voices shifts, Callie can hear the nerves in it, “first Mom knows I’m calling, she told me to call so you should probably buy a lottery ticket.”

Callie laughs. She can hear Jumin’s voice on the other side of the door.

“ Uncle Saeyoung was supposed to tell you to call me?” She adds nervously.

Callie opens the door a crack and holds a finger to her lip before pointing to the phone. Jumin slips into the bathroom with her.

“ I’m certain that man must breath through a blow hole on the top of his head,” he groans rubbing his temples. “I can’t believe you’re hiding in the bathroom.”

“ Shhh,” Callie hisses. “I’m talking to Nina.”

“ Oh,” Nina perks up, “is that the one Oma was talking about?”

“ Yes,” Callie groans.

“ Is he as cute as she says?”

“ No,” Callie says and makes a face at Jumin, “he’s hideous but his money makes up for it.”

Jumin and Nina both snort.

“ Ok Nina, Saeyoung forgot to tell me to call, Saeran didn’t but then I forgot to actually make the call so nut up and tell me what you need.”

“ Oh, uh, well there are two things,” Nina says a little weakly.

“ I can guess at one of them,” Callie says, urging her on.

“ Easy ask first,” she declares, “could you do some choreography for me? I asked Uncle Martin but when I told him the song I wanted to use he said you’d be a better person to ask.”

“ Text me the song,” Callie says, “no guarantees but I can try.”

“ And I uh, I heard a rumor that maybe you know my birth Dad.”

Callie’s eyes move to Jumin. “I might,” she says softly. “I mean I do sort of.”

“ Do you think,” she can hear her niece inhale on the other end of the line, “do you think he’d want to meet me?”

“ What’s going on?” Jumin whispers.

“ Jagiya,” she says softly, “your Mom drug that man through hell, I can’t guarantee anything, but I can talk to him.”

“ Please? It seems like a waste to be so close and not try.”

“ Don’t worry about, I’ll see what I can do, you’re probably supposed to be in a class or skating right now right?”

“ Ugh, you’ve gone Mom on me,” Nina groans.

“ Go, be responsible,” Callie laughs. “I have to rejoin the party before another horrible rumor about me gets published.

“ Aunt Cal, aren’t all those  _ horrible rumors _ true.”

“ My own flesh and blood!” Callie gasps and hangs up the phone.

Jumin raises an eyebrow at her as she reaches for the door.

“ You know I’m right, you shouldn’t even have come in here with me.”

He laughs and follows her out. “What was that all about, it seemed quite serious near the end.”

“ Nina is going to be here skating in a few weeks,” Callie whispers, “and she wants me to talk to her Dad for her.”

“ Do you know him?” Jumin asks. “You were young when Celia became pregnant, will you need a hand locating him.”

She laughs. “Even if I did I have the hacker twins in my back pocket.”

Jumin shakes his head. “ _ Even if you did _ ,” he raises and eyebrow, “suggesting you know where he is.”

“ Have you schmoozed sufficiently?” She asks. “Can we leave yet, I’m so tired.”

Jumin shrugs. “I can certainly make some excuses if you’d like to go home.”

“ _ Home _ , home,” she yawns, “Not the penthouse sorry.”

“ No apology needed,” Jumin smiles and squeezes her hand. He steps away from her into the crowd and returns shortly with their coats. “The oil prince is disappointed that he did not get to dance with you this evening.”

Callie frowns. “God, I hope I can make it up to him.”

Jumin chuckles.

Once they’re settled in his car he turns to her. “I understand that this was not a conversation you wanted to have at the party but I feel compelled to ask you again, do you know where Nina’s father is?”

She snorts. “Yeah, every Monday to Friday.”

“ I’m sorry.”

“ He works in legal at C&R you put my contract in his hands.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had part of another arc written for this but I don't see myself having inspiration to finish it. There is one portion I'm going to post separately within the series that will clarify where Jumin stands in the Choi marriage but it's going to be out of context since that arc is unfinished. (The arc I had planned was for Callie's niece to meet her father which is also probably obvious, and yes she's the same Nina from Lost Boys)
> 
> If you want to ask me about my MCJuCiel or just talk swing by my twitter @chaoticjackass


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